The Stamp Act

Charles Murray’s American Exceptionalism invokes ideas I had not considered before. The way he describes America in its early life is unrecognizable to me. Murray discusses the geographic setting, American ideology, the traits of the American people, and the operation of the American political system. Now, centuries later than the time he described, it is like America had gone on a rapidly fast down torrent. I agree with Murray’s ideas of the exceptional traits America exuded, however, the traits I observe now, and as Murray talks about later on in the book, have taken on a different meaning. It is almost as if the once amazing concepts have been reduced to nearly half their worth. I am in no way stating America is no longer exceptional, but

Moss, G. D. & Thomas, E. A. (2013). Moving on: the American people since 1945 (5th ed.).

In Interpretations of American History, a collaborative team of four editors (Francis G. Couvares, Martha Saxton, Gerald N. Grob, and George Athan Billias) seek to educate any student of history on the various perspectives on any one said historical issue. The editors sum up the entire book with “These volumes reflect our understanding that history is an act of interpretation. ” Essentially, this book offers a multitude of benefits for those who wish to further study history, but at the same time the reader must take everything said with a grain of salt.

available in our on-line collection associated with Critical Thinking 10th Edition Moore And Parker Pdf

     The passing of the Stamp Act by Parliament in 1765 caused a rush of angry protests by the colonists in British America that perhaps "aroused and unified Americans as no previous political event ever had." It levied a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspapers, and nearly every other form of paper used in the colonies. Adding to this hardship was the need for the tax to be paid in British sterling, not in colonial paper money. Although this duty had been in effect in England for over half a century and was already in effect in several colonies in the 1750?s, it called into question the authority of Parliament over the overseas colonies that had no representation therein.

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 Stamp Act was effective on November 1st 1765.The act was placed without a say from the colonies. Taxes were placed on playing cards and almost everything else.

It was created to increase the profit earned from the colonists by having a stamp that was required by law to placed on all newspapers, legal, and commercial documents. The purpose of the stamp act was to raise money to pay off the debt from the French and Indian War, raise money to pay to have the military in the colonies to reinforce the taxes, assert the authority of the British government over the colonies, reinforce policies from previous acts, and to implement taxes on documents. The act required the stamp to be placed on almost every item that was printed on paper from playing cards to diplomas and the tax had to be paid in silver or gold coins. The colonists were outraged because the British were taxing them and the colonies had no representatives in parliament. They protested using the now famous quote,”No taxation without representation!”

America is by no means a perfect nation, it suffers from many historical mistakes and oversights, and many people have attempted to propose solutions to the nation’s problems. Throughout the last forty four presidencies, many attempts of solutions have gone through trial and error; however, when one goes back to America’s beginnings, one may hear wisdom from the nation’s first president, George Washington. Washington delivered his Farewell Address after serving two terms as president, on September 19th, 1796. The advice Washington offered in his address, if carefully followed and carried through, would have prevented or at least minimized the many disasters American’s have had to face. If I could travel back in time, I would travel to Philadelphia

The Stamp Act of 1765 was issued on Match March 22, 1765, by British parliament and Prime Minister George Grenville. After the French and Indian War, Britain had to figure out a way to pay for the debt created from the war. Prime Minister Grenville decided that since the American colonists were the least taxed in the empire, they should increase their taxes.

"History teaches, reinforces what we believe in, what we stand for, and what we ought to be willing to stand up for… But history shows that times of change are the times when we are most likely to learn. This nation was founded on change. We should embrace the possibilities in these exciting times and hold to a steady course, because we have a sense of navigation, a sense of what we've been through in times past and who we are.” McCullough believes that history repeats itself and that the past is not only a source of direction, but it is what shapes us. “There’s no such thing as a self-made man,” (290) he said. As we know, the revolutionary war allowed the creation of what we now know as the United States of America. “1776”, written by author David McCullough, invites us to be a part of America’s battle for

Keene, J., Cornell, S., & O'Donnell, E. (2013). Visions of America: A history of the United States. (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson.

The premise for this book was enough to excite me to discover some hidden truth about America's past, yet I cannot begin to express the level of astonishment or shock that I experienced while I read this book. It opened my eyes to a number of different issues and topics I thought I already knew as well a great deal of new information I didn't.

Those who wear these lenses in different periods of time only have the opportunity to gain bits and pieces of the true realization that America is a diverse political state. Alexis De Tocqueville visits America when democracy is at the forefront his mind, and often does not differentiate this from American values as presented by its citizens. What he sees is strong individualism, but not of a selfish nature that attempts to dissolve political barriers. Charles Murray on the other hand, sees that there is something new in the works that is mainly identified through the different societal classes we have today, and even within them. He knows that intelligence is constantly appreciating in value as more and more people in America are educated with a college degree and will to work. Replication is the unequivocal curve ball that is thrown into the equation when trying to figure out the political standing of America. We struggle knowing when equality transgresses into something more of decreased innovation. Or when innovation turns into an elevation of an American’s ego. This incomparable vicissitude must be kept in check with watchful eyes over the years to come to truly realize where America’s political cultures

The growth and maturity that the United States has been undergoing these last few centuries has affected the mentality of the people and government from being simple minded to becoming more open minded. As the nation grows from a small new country to a global superpower, many things have changed and continued to stay the same. Many of these things range from the how presidents have always been elected to the changes of technology Americans use daily. Over time, America’s position on the technology, people and beliefs have been molded and shaped to accommodate the time period which the country is in.