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What is an American?
What is an American? Dictionary.com tells that one of the definitions of American is a citizen of the United States of Americaand for most people who hear the word American that is what is going to come to mind. However, historically speaking, America was a nation of immigrants and indigenous peoples coming together (not always peacefully, either) to share a common space. Yet, ultimately, perspectives can lead to different interpretations. For instance, some people may feel Americans are peaceful and practical. My definition of the term American is no different from Dictionary.coms: one who is a citizen of the United States of America. That kind of definition is broad enough to include all perspectives.
Sharing that space often proved more difficult than thought. Wars between indigenous populations and settlers/colonizers broke out. Later, when the United States of America was founded (following a war between colonists and the Crown), another war erupted between the states (north vs. south). Since then, the US has been at war all over the world. In fact, the whole of the 20th centuryfrom the Spanish American War to the wars in the Middle Eastis emblematic of Americas tendency...…in the identify of immigrants and natives: FDRs 50th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty speech looks back on immigrants and the impact they had on shaping the US. Poor Europeans came to the US, and poor Americans worked to make the country strong. America has had its poetssuch as Walt Whitman, who wrote I hear America Singing and Langston Hughes, who wrote about the experience of a Black man in 1920s USA. Then there is I, too, sing America by Julia Alvarez, who describes the experience of a multicultural woman in modern day USA. All of these are perspectives of…
References
Abraham Lincoln. Second Inaugural Speech. https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm
Dictionary.com. “American.” https://www.dictionary.com/browse/american
FDR. Address on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. | The American Presidency Project (ucsb.edu)
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. From these humble beginnings the first born son of Thomas, an uneducated farmer, and Nancy Hanks, Lincoln would grow to become the 16th President of the United States. In 1997 William Riding Jr. And Stuart B. McIver asked a group of 719 professors, elected officials, historians, attorneys, authors and other professionals to rate the presidents.
These were all matters that needed consideration and which attracted the support of the North. His Inaugural Address tried to point them out. In this sense, he considered that the "maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the
Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America What was the most important thing you learned about Abraham Lincoln from reading "Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America"? Abraham Lincoln played an important role in bringing to an end the civil war and initiating the stoppage of slavery in the United States. After its inauguration in 1861, Lincoln was determined to unite the northern and the southern states, which were at loggerheads over slavery and
FDR: The New Deal Years 1933-1937: A History, Kenneth S. Davis presents a meticulous account of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term. This book is the third volume in Davis' much-lauded biography series of the 32nd president. In this volume, Davis focuses on Roosevelt's New Deal policies, providing a thorough analysis of how the president laid the foundations - often without his full comprehension -- of the American semi-welfare state. Davis' core argument
FDR and WWII involvement American involvement in armed conflict is a messy topic; since the Civil War the nation has a history of being divided about wars. Today, many Americans question our nation's involvement in the Middle East; in the 1960s and 70s, the Vietnam war created a huge schism in the country. What many do not realize, however, is that disputes over American involvement in overseas wars dates back much
Roosevelt and Taft In the first part of the twentieth century the United States found itself becoming an emerging world power. In response to this new position in the world, two distinct foreign policies developed under two successive presidents: Theodore Roosevelt's "big stick" policy and William Taft's "dollar diplomacy." While one was predicated on the development and use of military power to reinforce America's position in the world, the other was