The United States was founded on key aspects to a create a strong, centralized democratic goverment: freedom and equality. In fact, one of the nations famous quotes, "Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness" complements the nations democracy as a whole. While America was just a newly developed country, it was evident to citizens that changes were necessary. Between the years of 1825-1850, a reformational period embodied America. Whether or not these reforms sought to expand democratic ideals was a question that required an answer.…
The article “Baubles of Britain” by Timothy Breen describes the high demand for consumer goods from British manufacturers. Americans were all coming together to support the goods trade with Britain. Breen proposes that this consumer economy took Americans by storm. People wanted the very latest items that were just shipped in. Items including cloth, ceramics, glassware, paper, cutlery.…
DBQ - Democracy in Colonial America Essay Democracy during colonial America was a work in progress, which included democratic and undemocratic features. One democratic feature is, citizen participation. It includes becoming informed, debating issues, voting in elections, etc. In Document Three “The fundamental Orders of Connecticut” states “The choice of governors should be made by all those eligible to vote.”…
In his Republic, Plato makes the claim that “only philosophy can save us” (Book V, 573d). Thousands of years later, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America. Many scholars summarize his beliefs as, “only institutions can save us”, a direct repudiation of Plato. In this paper, I will show that, in fact, Plato’s philosophy is embedded in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, specifically revolving around the preference for community and collectivism rather than private gain.…
Within Lasch’s three chapters, “Does Democracy Deserve to Survive?,” “Communitarianism or Populism?,” and “Conversation and the Civic Art,” he highlights the decay of civic virtue, while calling attention to the fact that American democracy was at its best when there was “small-scale production through cooperative buying and selling” (81). Small-scale production required qualities of responsibility and self-reliance, claiming that something more than morality that can generate virtue. Lasch refers to the “probing social commentary that took shape in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when it became evident that small property was disappearing and people began to ask themselves whether the virtues associated with proprietorship could be preserved, in…
In “Narrative of Commercial Life,” T. H. Breen explores economic and cultural changes in eighteenth century British North America that came about after the French and Indian War. Breen argues that those changes informed colonial protest movements, most notably nonimportation agreements, and that those “specific styles of resistance” caused colonists to unite and “...to reimagine themselves within an independent commercial empire” (Breen 472). Staughton Lynd and David Waldstreicher’s article “Free Trade, Sovereignty, and Slavery” begins with a discussion of how both modern historians and early Americans have viewed the causes and ideology of the American Revolution. Lynd and Waldstreicher claim that the main contentions are whether the Americans…
In this paper I will discuss the way that war and economics have shaped the the development the United States. I want to focus on the two to three main points of history in each topic. On the economic side of things, I want to discuss Colonial America, Slavery, and The Great Depression. On the war side of things I want to discuss The Revolutionary War and The Civil War. Now there are more topics that I could dive into, but I would like to focus on some of the events and not all.…
The beliefs and values embraced by Thomas Jefferson in his Letter to James Madison can be seen by some as archaic and insensible to a growing society. Although America’s values on the basis of economy and society have shifted somewhat, a few of his ideas can still be interwoven into how America regards itself. Another writing of Jefferson’s will be referenced in the course of this essay, since it has a clearer sense of why Jefferson felt the way he did about agrarian societies. This writing is Query XIX from his Notes on the State of Virginia, the final edition published in 1785. The points maintained in this writing support those contained within his Letter to James Madison, even if he is speaking specifically of the state of Virginia instead of the country as a whole.…
1. What are the main ideas of these two readings? (list at least 3) • In the American Cultural Configuration, Holmes emphasizes that American society is a culture full of fallacies and paradoxes in American logic. Some headings state a topic on how Americans believe in one way, but in reality, perform the opposite. For example, the paradox of education in America would be that while we value practical majors such as law, medicine, business, etc., they don’t really have the motivation to obtain it.…
Paper 1 This paper will answer the question of What are the ends or purposes of American government? How are they different from other regimes, such as ancient Sparta or Puritan colonies? How do the ends of regimes alter the role of government in society?…
Shames states, “The American economy as an endlessly fertile continent whose boundaries never need be reached, a domain that could in perpetuity, a gigantic playing flied that would never run out of room” (95). Shames explains that many people view America as a continent filled of various resources and never ending opportunities that empower people for success and the desire of “more”. The “frontier” has now turned into the economy to not let search for growth and improvement opportunities end. Americans values have shifted and broaden to only wanting “more.” The “frontier economy” is significant to Shames’ argument because this idea is evident to how the economy shapes the American culture to wanting…
In Seth Rockman’s monograph “Scraping By”, Rockman provides a grim outlook on Baltimore, Maryland’s wage-labor during the early 1800’s. No matter the age, race, ethnicity, or gender, the people of Baltimore struggled and “scraped by” in order to survive. Rockman challenges the notion that the early republic was a time of great growth and upward opportunity for people. Instead, he reveals the harsh truth of living in Baltimore, from scraping human feces off the streets, to prostitution, or toiling as a mud machine workers.…
In 1782 J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur wrote a powerful essay on the colonial American society. Within this essay he portrays his thoughts about American life and simply defines the beloved country in a new perspective. He wrote this specifically to praise Americans, and their reasons for coming together and making such a great place. As a French aristocrat he shocks the world with his enlightening and brilliantly written essay about the American society. He makes a powerful argument by using comparisons, tone, word choice, and many other rhetorical strategies.…
We come to find out from this article that the American economy has been the frontier this whole time. American’s have been so caught up in the need for land, and weren’t even thinking about all the money. Now that this is happening, “a growth in responsibility and happiness-will have to fulfill our need to believe that our possibilities are still expanding” (94). America needed to start thinking about what wants and needs of theirs were going to benefit them more. Shames goes on to talk about how the people of America are not letting the frontier’s promise die.…
This being one of the goals of the American System, it is the effects of the system that reflect this unity the most. In giving a speech to the Senate on February 2, 3, and 6, 1832, Henry Clay proclaims the success of the American System, “On a general survey, we behold cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the country improved, our people fully and profitably employed, and the public countenance exhibiting tranquility, contentment, and happiness” (United States). It is through the transportation step of the system that makes this “tranquility, contentment, and happiness” evident throughout the nation. Using the many available means of transportation the North and South must work together to make use of their resources and maximize their economy. With the flow of raw materials being sent from agricultural South to industrial North, the North is able to use these materials to mass produce a vast array of products.…