American History : A Multi Faceted Progression Of History

Over the past few weeks of class, we have covered the first five chapters of our textbook, written by George Brown Tindell and David Emory Shi called, “America, A Narrative History.” Each chapter told the reader a narration of the history of America, as opposed to an expository version of America’s history. Each chapter had its own main idea over a portion of history, along with many details that cover the importance of the main idea. As a reader, one may obtain a deeper appreciation for the country 's history, prior to entering the class on the first day. The most important aspect of history, besides the battles that are fought, is the different cultures that make up today’s modern America.

Today America is one of the wealthiest, strongest, and hardworking countries in the world. It has population of over three hundred million and growth rate of 0.97% annually. America as a nation is known to have done many great contributions to the world such as: the idea of presidency, inventing telephone, discovering electricity, inventing planes, the first nation to put a man on moon, and many more. America has grown and multiplied over time and it is still increasing. Even though today America stands out apart from other countries, it was built from nothing but scrap.

The upper class were the rich and with the advancement of new technology, became richer. Goods could be created and sold for a cheaper price in their factories. With the working class looking for work, were employed by the factory owners. The advantaged social class that had enjoyed wealth and success, had now achieved a new level of luxury.

Everyday life in colonial America was made up of large cities, rural settlements, and frontier regions. Life in colonial America was nothing short of difficult. The large cities were made up of many classes of people ranging from wealthy to slaves. There were some that had very specific skills as well as communication skills and others who had nothing. The wealthy people dreamed of what they were going to do in the future, however the middle class people dreamed but did not plan. They were better off than the average poor person, but still worked very hard sunrise to sunset. In this paper I will provide information on what life was like for various aspects and people groups in colonial America.

In 1893, at the 400th anniversary of the appearance of Columbus in the Americas celebrated in Chicago , Frederick Jackson Turner presented an academic paper entitled, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” In this essay, Turner proposes that, “The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development.” The group dynamic that Turner champions is the farmer. More directly it is white, male farmers. While the expansion of the west by white male farmers was a factor in the development of America, it is not the only explanation for this progression. Turner fails to incorporate all of the demographics present during this expansion which were essential to the evolution of America.

The gap between the upper class and the lower class is growing; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Instead of helping the lower class, the upper class is spending their money on fancy houses and material objects. For example, in the outskirts of cities, the rich business owners are building large mansions to live in. On the other hand, the lower class live in tiny tenements in the heart of the city. Many are unemployed and starving. In addition, between 1865 and 1900 only a small percent of Americans grew wealthy showing that wealth is only being passed through families not gained. However this growing gap between rich and poor has allowed the growth of the middle class. This middle class made up of doctors, lawyers and other will help the will hopefully help lessen the gap between

The lives of the industrial classes were all different. The upper class lived in luxury while attending fancy parties and extravagant dinners. The middle class did not have as much money as the upper class. Although, they had enough money to support their families and live comfortably. The lower class were not as fortunate. They lived in unsanitary conditions and had to face many struggles just to be able to barley have enough to live. The differences between the 3 classes lead to social, economic , and political issues.

During the Gilded Age, Americans tended to focus more on what to do about the poor people rather than how their life is benefitting from economic development. They wondered what they should do in order to help the suffering class, or if they should even help them. Three authors took a stand about economic inequality and formed their own opinion on how it affected society.

Doctor Charles Sellers’ book covers the American historical period from the ending of the War of 1812 through the Polk’s administration of the annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1846. The coverage of the book is basically the entire United States and its territories. Seller’s compiles this book through the prism of either a New Left Historian or as Progressive Historian. There appears on my reading elements of both styles scattered in the text (Hegelian dialectic). The text is well sourced with multiple secondary sources which on first glance were written from the early 1970’s forward to the mid-1980s. The book is chronologically written with an intertwining of various narratives such as religion (The Great Awakening and the rise of Mormonism), banking (excerpts from the Federalist Paper) and infrastructure.

In the Presidential Election of 1824, Andrew Jackson – the “people’s choice” – lost the ballot by way of a “corrupt bargain” in the House of Representatives. Four years later and with the backing of a larger political following, Jackson became president, campaigning to the middle class and offering the opportunities of a benevolent democracy. Jackson’s supporters, the Jacksonians, were as diverse as they were numerous; northern farmers, southern and western yeomen, and even urban immigrants all joined the ranks of the Champion of the Common Man (OI). During Andrew Jackson’s two terms, the state of Jacksonian Democracy that took form upheld the principles of equality and majority rule that bound the United States together politically, economically and socially. During the 1820s and 1830s, Jacksonians served as guardians of the Constitution and equality of economic opportunity, and functioned as a catalyst for popular sovereignty, but sacrificed some individual liberties to advance the political democracy in the union.

The theme for American History is to not lose hope over life’s disappointments and to instead concentrate on the positive. The quote, “You are forgetting who you are, nina. I have seen you staring down at the boy’s house. You are heading for humiliation and pain,” plays a big role in the story. When Elena is about to step out the door to go to Eugene’s house (who is white), her mom warns her and says that she’ll be humiliated. But Elena wants to take the chance and would rather think about the positive outcome instead of the negative. Elena is seemed as an optimistic person. Even though Elena may have known that her mother was right, she still went for the opportunity and hoped for the best. This is an excellent example of not losing hope and

Many people associate the word “genocide” with the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. However, there is a particular genocide much more severe than the Holocaust, the American Indian genocide. It is roughly estimated that ten million Native Americans died due to European contact. Many documents attempt to effectively recount the experiences of the Native Americans and provide accurate information pertaining to their cultures, but the reading that best does this is chapter one of America’s History by James Henretta et al. This reading encompasses a variety of topics; covering Native American society prior to European contact, geography of the Americas, European hierarchy, conflict in the Old World, Native American and European empires, trading networks,

By 1600, England’s feudal system was nearing extinction, as a new family (Tudor’s) came to power and wanted support from the middleclass and the establishment of new liberties for Englishman (i.e. trial by jury and no arrest without a warrant), which resulted in a large amount of local and self initiative to prosper in the community: yet many beggars now existed, culminating in an increased need for colonial expansion both for personal prosperity and more space for the existing population.

American society is known for having the highest standard of living across the globe; this is solely due to the consumerist culture that is brought forth by capitalism. Americans in the U.S. take pride in these standards and in the freedoms that this democratic nation has established. The 20th century will always be remembered in American history as a century of radical changes on the social and political fronts of the nation. Literature, too, evolved quickly from specific, compartmentalized fields which fit into categories, to works which had no set definition—nobody knew what to do with them. These changes also took place in poetry; artistic expression began to change across the arts and so did the mediums. Poets across the nation

In years previous to the Industrial Revolution, there had been a large gap between the upper and working class, and the poor