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Essays on patriotism in america
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Like stained glass images adorning Catholic Cathedrals across the world, Americans told the story of their nation with symbols of divinity. In early America, citizens represented themselves with in art and alluded to the values important to the young republic. Even in the architecture of the country’s capital there are references to their self assigned role as a classical Greco-Roman empire. A newly born nation in the late 18th century was discovering what the country was to represent. Over time, the early American’s developed their national identity through symbols of divine conception, classicism, and patriotic ideals of liberty.
The conception of America, like Jesus Christ, was believed to be immaculate. Illustrations depicting biblical images show how early Americans romanticized their origin. In Benjamin Franklin’s reverse design
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Although Washington wears no divine crown, he maintains an unquestionable authority. He is the general of the ship, and the general of America. The image portrays a wide array of characters. An androgynous individual sits beside an Indian, a black man, and a men of the frontier. They all row under an American flag that had yet to be created. Adorned in their hodgepodge of makeshift uniforms, the boat is not just carrying the crew to victory, but toward liberty. This is the grand idea of the American Revolution. To most Americans, the Revolution wasn’t a Civil War, but a war against tyrants. Romancing the war in this way is tempting. Instead of a civil war with lukewarm popularity, a fight with a cruel antagonist for liberty makes for a better story. Yet, what this symbolic painting misses is that not all were sailing toward freedom. Sadly, unlike the mythical boat, the black man was actually rowing towards years of bondage; and the Indian removal from his land. Nonetheless, the painting is inspiring. It shows what America could be at its
In his book, An Imperfect God, Henry Wiencek argues in favor of Washington being the first true president to set the precedent for the emancipation of African-American slaves. Wiencek delves into the evil paradox of how a nation conceived on the principles of liberty and dedicated to the statement that all men are created equal was in a state that still preserved slavery for over seven decades following the construction of the nation. Washington’s grandeur estate at Mount Vernon at its peak had the upkeep of over 300 slaves 126 of which were owned by Washington. First, it must be understood that Washington was raised on slavery receiving ownership of 10 slaves at the age of 11 years old and that Washington was a man of his time. However, it must also be understood that Washington’s business with slavery was in the context of a constrained social and political environment. Weincek maintains that this does not exonerate the fact that Washington maintained slavery however; it does help to quantify the moral shortcoming by which Washington carried until his last year of life.
The author, a renowned American historian, presents an exciting and dramatic narrative of the year of the birth of the nation. He interweaves the actions and decisions that saw the British lead the war against the rebellious subjects that put the survival of America at the discretion of George Washington. The author tells a human version aspect if the story with accounts of those who walked alongside George Washington in the Declaration of Independence year. This was a time when the whole reason for Americans was based on the possibility of success. The book points out that without the hope of success, the whole idea of independence would have slipped away and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence would have been nothing but words on paper.
Boyer, Paul S. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. D.C. Heath and Company, Mass. © 1990
In a lively account filled that is with personal accounts and the voices of people that were in the past left out of the historical armament, Ronald Takaki proffers us a new perspective of America’s envisioned past. Mr. Takaki confronts and disputes the Anglo-centric historical point of view. This dispute and confrontation is started in the within the seventeenth-century arrival of the colonists from England as witnessed by the Powhatan Indians of Virginia and the Wamapanoag Indians from the Massachusetts area. From there, Mr. Takaki turns our attention to several different cultures and how they had been affected by North America. The English colonists had brought the African people with force to the Atlantic coasts of America. The Irish women that sought to facilitate their need to work in factory settings and maids for our towns. The Chinese who migrated with ideas of a golden mountain and the Japanese who came and labored in the cane fields of Hawaii and on the farms of California. The Jewish people that fled from shtetls of Russia and created new urban communities here. The Latinos who crossed the border had come in search of the mythic and fabulous life El Norte.
As a boy George Washington allegedly accidentally chopped down a cherry tree, which he confessed to his father’s delight. There is also the tale where his father planted some seeds in the garden which grew up to spell ‘GEORGE WASHINGTON’ so as to” demonstrate by analogy God’s design in the universe”(10). However these anecdotes are the pure invention of Parson Weems (10) as very little is known about Washington’s early childhood or his relationship with his father. These invented tales, no matter how ridiculous, are less offensive than the authors who brush over or omit Washington’s involvement in slavery. In the ‘moral autobiography’ of George Washington called Founding Father; Richard Brookhiser justifies Washington’s actions by stating “slavery was sanctioned by the Bible and by Aristotle”.
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...
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a representation of the new prospect of upward mobility in colonial America during the 18th century and the development of the Age of Reason, which assisted in the conception of the idea of the “American Dream”; a dream that includes fundamentally social ideals such as democracy, equality, and material prosperity. Furthermore, Franklin’s autobiography exemplifies a significant shift in focus from religion to enlightenment and reason. Additionally, there were forces specific to Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia, that played an important role in his perspectives and the changes that occurred within colonial America during the 18th century.
Written sometime after A People’s History of the United States, the play on words might indicate the authors’ intent to refute the biased nature of the older book, and redeem the major players. Chapter one begins covering the year 1492-1707 with the age of European discovery. Schweikart and Allen focus of the catchy phrase “God, glory, and gold” as the central motives for exploration, emphasizing the desire to bring the Gospel to the New World. They paint native settlers as “thieves” and “bloodthirsty killers who pillage for pleasure” (Allen 1). The narrative continues, discussing the explorers from Portugal and Spain and their contact with the Arabs and Africans. The authors quote Columbus as saying “[he] hoped to convert them ‘to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force’” (4) a contrary portrayal to that in A People’s History of the United States. The authors continue on to discuss the French and English and the foundations for success in the New World; how people lived in the Colonial South. They write about the physical labor, the natural resources, and the food. Schweikart and Allen enlighten the readers about early slavery, the start of the House of Burgesses, the founding of Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Pequot Indian War, the English Civil War, Bacon’s Rebellion, Pennsylvania’s settlement, and the
Stephanie Coontz’s, David Brook’s, and Margaret Atwood all discuss American cultural myths in their respective essays “The Way We Wish We Were,” “One Nation, Slightly Divisible,” and “A Letter to America.” All three authors elaborate on specific cultural myths, whether it is about an ideal family, an ideal lifestyle, or an ideal country as a whole. As a result of analyzing the three texts, it is clear that the authors critique Americas image in their own was. As well as elaborate on why the realistic view of the United States is being squelched by major cultural myths.
Douglass consciously uses imagery to display what is happening and how he felt at the time being. He wants to emulate this feeling, to make others see what traumatic events he went through. While describing how the ships are free and he isn’t, Douglass begins to describe how confined his life felt, “You are freedom’s swift-winged angels, that fly round the world; I am confined in the bands of iron” (Douglass), the audience is more than capable of understanding how the imagery helps allude to what Douglass saw. They now have a better understanding of the horror that Douglass went through during this harsh time, realizing that Douglass doesn’t have any sense of freedom, but instead he feels trapped. One can clearly see the sentiments of Douglass’ thoughts to make sure he keeps his beliefs, “I will do the same; and when I get to the head of the bay, I will turn my canoe adrift, and walk straight through Delaware into Pennsylvania. When I get there, I shall not be required to have a pass; I can travel without being disturbed” (Douglass). He also exhibits how important it is to do so to try and become a freed slave through imagery. He uses imagery while describing, “…those beautiful vessels, robed in purest white…” (Douglass). Douglass is using these vessels to show how an inanimate object is freer than him. He conveys an underlying terror
How can two pieces of art be named the same exact thing, and be based on the same event but have clashing interpretations? These different mediums are both based on the event in where George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas Day. This was during the American Revolution. America lost many battles at this point and Washington knew he was going to need to come up with more surprising tactics. While both the painting and poem convey the same topic, only the poem allows the interpreter to be able to understand the harsh experience in a more personal form.
The literary work promoted patriotism and American virtues to America’s youth (Blakley, 2015). Within “The Columbian Orator” is a passage of banter between a runaway slave and his master in which “the slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things…things which had the desired though unexpected effect, for the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master” (Douglass, ps. 59 and 60). This proves Douglass’s intuitions into escaping slavery through literacy. Within the same book is one of Sheridan’s speeches on the subject of Catholic emancipation (Douglass, p. 60). The freedom of blacks can be compared to the freedom that Catholics now have of running for office despite detest from the Protestant community (Blakley, 2015). What Frederick Douglass got from reading Sheridan was “a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights” (Douglass, p. 60). The teachings of Sheridan allowed Douglass to collect his thoughts on slavery and to argue against people who wanted to preserve slavery. Despite all of the good that Douglass received from these readings, it caused him to loathe his enslavers even more. Although Frederick Douglass’s competence allowed him to understand the possibility of freedom, it plunged his soul into a dark abyss of self-realization in knowing that he and his people were treated so poorly for such a long
Deviating from his typically autobiographical and abolitionist literatures, Frederick Douglass pens his first work of fiction, “The Heroic Slave,” the imagined backstory of famed ex-slave Madison Washington, best known for his leadership in a slave rebellion aboard about the slave ship Creole. An interesting plot and Douglass’ word choice provide a powerful portrait of slavery and the people affected by it.
“The Star Spangled Banner” emphasizes America’s perseverance and its unwillingness to surrender to adversity. The prime example of this “American attitude” traces back to the dawn of America. Harsh European laws during the Colonial Period allot little to no rights to its own subjects in America. American colonists’ penurious lives are in constant peril of taxation through means such as the mercantilist system and selfish laws like the Navigation Acts. However, American colonists refuse to remain under control of such an oppressive government. In the eyes of the Europeans, they are rapacious rebels who are oblivious of the supremacy of their mother country. Yet, in the eyes of the colonists, they are merely humans asking, and eventually fighting, for simple rights that–according to their tenets–belong to everyone. Although their adversary is the seemingly invincible England, the colonists are able to endure and emerge as the victor. “The Star Spangled Banner” clearly demonstrates the perseverance and audacity in this cl...
In the early decades of the 1900’s, different approaches of Americanization were displayed. They were specific ideas of what a country should represent. After its independence America had become in a country made up by people