Reform In The United States

Many politicians argue that there is a need for institutional reform in the United States—the sole purpose of such reform should be to develop a more efficient system for the state as a whole. However, others argue that there are existing institutions in the United States that are structured efficiently. In order to help determine where an individual will stand on the debate about institutional reform, one must compare the effects of different forms of political institutions with the existing form in the United States. There are three new proposals of reform to discuss for the United States: 1) change in the electoral system for the House of Representatives, 2) change in the executive structure

The often told story of America’s founding begins the Founding fathers waged a revolution and created a unique place called the United States of America. This story may include the early Jamestown colony and puritan colonists, and at times deal with the depollution and dispossession of the America’s native inhabitants. However frequently the complex nature of America’s prerevolutionary era is left out. Daniel Richter offers a refreshing non-teleological revision by showing that the United States has a much deeper history. Richter presents America as a nation with multiple pasts that stretch back as far as the middle ages. These pasts, he argues, continue to be felt in the present. Richter’s history utilizes a vast array of primary sources and his cultural history spans more than seven centuries. Richter works to recover the histories of an intermingling sort of individuals from North America, Europe, and Africa. The struggle for control of land and resources of these individuals took place in a global context. This multilayer struggle gradually gave rise to a distinctive American culture. Richter argues that by dissecting and understanding this culture on its own—and not as a build-up to an inevitable revolution—reveals the origins of American history.

Before the 19th century, the United States was a small, developing country. Later, it transformed into a world power. The size of the United States was tripled because of acquisitions such as The Louisiana Purchase, the Mexican Cession with adding Alaska, Florida, Oregon, and Texas. One of the events that caused this expansion was the War of 1812. This war is sometimes called “America’s second war for independence”.

History is the framework of every nation. It describes what life was like in a nation, hundreds perhaps thousands of years previously. With history, many citizens are able to examine what lead to a crisis in a nation such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 or the Civil War in the 1800s in the United States of America. Likewise, the moments of growth and economic success are looked at. From these past endeavors, the people can examine what went wrong and what went right and determine how they can stop themselves from making similar mistakes or act in a way that has been proven to work. In Eve Kornfeld’s “Creating an American Culture 1775-1800,” many different areas of national identity are discussed, including the beginnings of documenting the history of America as an independent nation. This was especially hard for Americans to create a singular national identity because there was bias in the early works, the different colonies or states were extremely diverse, and many intellectuals had different perspectives on the American identity.

     The Age of Reforms also brought new hope to women’s rights. Women had often played a lesser role in societies around the world, especially in America. They were never involved in politics and nearly all women at the time stayed home to take care of the house chores. The women’s rights movement that arose in the 1920’s really started during the Age of Reforms, in the 1800’s.

Since the passage of the ACA, a total of 14.1 million adults have acquired health insurance coverage, however, a distinction must be made; the ACA was created to expand health insurance, not to better health care (Office of The Assistant Secretary For Planning and Evaluation, 2015). Texas being the number one state in all of the U.S. with "more than 5 million Texans" (19% of the population) uninsured in 2014 (this was a decrease of 700,000 individuals in 2013) would be expected to hold great support in order to lower the high rates of the uninsured (Walters, 2015). In order to understand the impact that the ACA has had on the U.S., but especially in Texas, it is important to look at what state officials say concerning the reform and

The Progressive and New Deal Eras are two of the most important and defining periods in American history. Through initiatives and reform passed during these times, America was changed politically, socially and economically. These changes affected all Americans in some way or another, but had significant impact on specific groups of American citizens. Whatever their impact, these eras jumpstarted and continued reform initiatives for our country that provided a model for tackling current issues in our society.

How complete are our textbooks these days? Yes, they may cover Christopher Columbus’s all the way to today’s current events. But just how complete are they? Often books tend to lean a certain direction, and offer perspective from only one point of view; most commonly the views of the victors, dominant country or possibly stories of heroes. What about the other side? Far too often the lesser of the two is left out of the textbooks and out of our minds. There are always two sides to a story, in this case, much of what we read is a mere, “partial truth”. In the following paragraphs and analysis, assumptions and generalizations we have made about our country and

America’s identity was shaped a lot in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s;the writing of the Monroe Doctrine, the interest in foreign affairs, and the Great Depression are all huge factors in that, and America has adjusted greatly because of that. There were many other things, such as the overall 1920’s, that shaped America’s identity as well.

Today’s first and second world countries are blind to a plague that is sweeping the majority of the world: poverty. In “wealthy” societies, it is important for the public to realize that economic conditions are a lot worse in many relatively remote places. This importance cannot be stressed enough, because it allows the public to realize that advocacy for the current system isn’t enough. When presented with daunting numbers of people suffering and dying, it is clear to see that the current system of immigration in these impoverished areas simply isn’t enough. There’s only one solution to this huge issue: an equilibrium shift. This shift includes turning a vicious cycle into a productive one by providing opportunities through economic stimulation. This stimulation will eventually lead to stability that results in opportunities for sustainability. Since there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this issue a reform coalition must be established. This reform coalition will tailor fit solutions to each community, which will be much more effective than the current broad tactics. It is important that everyone on earth has a base quality of life, and it is the duty of the common “wealthy” people to be aware of the atrocious conditions that impoverished people endure.

One interesting topic that is discussed in this essay is the role that black and white abolitionists and the civil war played in the creation of Americanism. The Civil War, they say, has relevance because it brought the two opposing ideas of American identity into conflict. Kazin and McCartin argue that it was not until the nation’s leaders thought the conflict would tear the nation apart that they decided the solution was Americanization. The authors continue by discussing historical events and happenings which fluctuated or aided to Americanism such as the issue of immigration, WWI, the Vietnam War and WWII. The argument proposed in this essay was less apparent to me that that which was proposed in the Andersons essay. However, what I made of the essay was that the authors recognize that inequality exists in the United States but they also recognize that there must be some common ground. Something has to unify the country and that is where Americanism comes into

American history is filled with ups and downs. Starting out with only 13 colonies, America forcibly removed themselves from the one of the strongest empires in the world. Battling against political reform, the subtraction of resources from the motherland, the debt accrued by colonists, and the bank wars, America struggles to create a self-sustaining country.

"From the first day that the United States won its independance, thoughtful Americans have attempted to define the new national identity" that decolonization invited. Becoming an independant political nation forced citizens to suddenly devise a "community and character" (Finkelman, 63) worthy of this newborn America. It was believed that, once free from Birtish fetters, a unique American character would emerge automatically. But this was not so, and it was left up to the artits, politictians, scientists, businessmen and women, and every other citizen to contrive the American identity. Those who were most accomplished at scrutinizing the American identity and what it was, were the many authors and writers of the 19th century.

In light of King George III’s tyrannical rule and consistent ignorance of colonists’ unalienable rights, the Americans had then decided that they would revamp such rule in favor of a libertarian nation separate from tyranny. Americans ubiquitously felt that they had become freer, although still not completely so, considering the pervasion of slavery, a major constriction of liberty and the rights of all citizens, as specified in the Declaration of Independence, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the nineteenth century, considerably after the Revolutionary War, the citizens began to set out to achieve their goals and fulfill their earnest passions and desires in the primes of their lifetimes. In this way, the movement of the collective American identity holds much in common with the European Enlightenment, whereupon the people had advanced their ways of life in aspects critical to prosperity and a generally positive bonding. It had not been solely the identity of the American people, but also their culture, which had related to the somewhat vulnerable groups of the time period.

History has changed throughout time and has created a long term impact on how we view ourselves and how our story came about. We’ve moved forward and since the 18th century. Americans had written themselves off as a united nation that share common values and beliefs. Especially on Independence. As we open the history books, America 's growth and development counted on the constant failures and hardships it went through. The nation has grown in power, morality, and size. Americans had grown significantly due to our failures and successes we’ve had in the past, along with the determination and strive for a better nation, while we learned from the conquering and enslavement of our own people.