Imagine you are fighting in a war. Fighting for your country against a country that has a monarchy. American history is based on all of the events that happened and how America became what it is today. Revolutionary writers Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson all wrote pieces to defend America, however In John Adams piece “Defense of the Constitutions of Government in Massachusetts During the Revolution”, Adams argues that free government has a great advantage over a simple monarchy. Adams relies on juxtaposition and counter argument to develop his argument that a free government is better than a monarchy.
The Monroe Doctrine, a policy of the United States introduced on December 2, 1823, expressed the idea, among other important foreign policy objectives, that new countries should be allowed to develop without interference from stronger nations. It stated that future efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression (USDS Basic Readings). Some of the major events that caused President James Monroe and his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams to develop this Doctrine concerned South American countries and their newly achieved independence. „The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 marked the breakup of the Spanish empire in the New World. Between 1815 and 1822 Jose de San Martin led Argentina to independence, while Bernardo O'Higgins in Chile and Simon Bolivar in Venezuela guided their countries out of colonialism.
The Democratic-Republicans sought to limit federal control and preferred local power as the dominant force. Chiefly, the emergence of the American two-party system arose from strongly opposed political views, but also developed out of experience and a struggle for power. As previously stated, the main reason for the development of the party system in the United States, or any political party for that matter, is a difference in beliefs on how a government should be operated. The Federalists, formed by Alexander Hamilton – Washington’s Treasury Secretary – in 1794, favored federalism with government having the power to control commerce, tax, declare war, and make treaties among other powers.
In 1898 the Spanish- American war began when America decided to liberate the Spanish colonies Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. The US won and gained control of the colonies, although instead of liberating the colonies they had fought to free and continue the fight against imperialism they became what they had been telling the world that they resented, an empire. This was the first step the US took towards becoming the world’s toughest police officer. After the First World War was won, President Wilson proposed 14 points at the meeting in Versailles that the rest of the world should follow to gain stability and peace in the world. This was the second step.
Examples included voting rights and citizenship, and the founders passed this to the states to decide. According to Bowles, 2011, American History 1865 to present End of Isolation, though slavery was the underlying reason for the war, another central debate was the rights of states versus the powers of the federal government. While Republicans were strongly in favor of a stronger federal government, Johnson opposed this direction and wanted states to have more power, includ¬ing the southern states. Which basically meant, more blacks in the government ; Johnson disapproved. As Johnson and Congress wres¬tled with these issues, their clash came to somewhat of a head with a disagreement over the Freedman’s Bureau.
Since the basic of all human nature is to obtain power, we can assume that there is something that the US wants besides trying to stop the use of chemical weapons. With the past conflicts that we have had in the middle east, why do we need to try and topple a government or be the police for the area and try to neutralize the situation. When we ask ourselves what do we have to gain from this besides more power after the cost of many American lives, is it really worth to have a repeat situation like Iraq and Pakistan? “The character of a foreign policy can be ascertained only through the examination of the political acts performed and of the foreseeable consequences of these acts.” (Morgenthau) The roots of all human nature is to obtain power, so out of losing many American soldiers lives, what do we gain? If we would have been more involved when we saw the sparks of conflict start, why did we not try to neutralize the sparks instead of fighting a huge wildfire.
This led to a decision for the king: cope with our demands, or we fight for our independence. After the king rejected the demands of the petition, Thomas Paine released an article entitled “Common Sense”. By this time, the people thought they were fighting to make King George III listen to their demands, but Thomas Paine introduced the idea that independence was better fighting for, and that Britain has too much power over us. He stated that Britain could drag Americans into war that they had no intention of being in, which was concluded that America is much better off on its own, and that this way of thinking was common sense. This document changed the minds of thousands of Americans to now want complete independence.
History confirms the break between Britain and the United States was a war of independence, known as the American Revolution. This war physically and mentally broke the bond between Britain and one of her largest colonies, who decided that since they were in a new territory, they would be responsible for themselves. In his document entitled Common Sense, Thomas Paine reasons with the reader that the American population should revolt against the actions of the British monarchy, demonstrating that the voice (and rioting) of the people are potentially stronger than the government itself. This essay will demonstrate that Thomas Paine’s arguments parallel those of another group that defied the government and essentially set the revolt in motion: the sailors. This paper will first explore Paine’s arguments, and then the
The people of these thirteen colonies felt it was more advantageous to band together and wage war against, arguably, the most powerful nation in the world rather than be subject to its unfair laws. Given this brief background of the American Revolution, it is safe to admit that the Revolutionaries were greatly out manned, and out gunned on the battle field. Therefore the rebellious continentals had to resort to other, more unconventional forms of waging war; a method that has come to be called Guerrilla Warfare. Encyclopedia.com defines this new form of warfare as “often the means used by weaker nations or military organizations against a larger, stronger foe. Fought largely by independent, irregular bands [of armed forces]…it is warfare of harassment…It features the use of ambushes, hit‐and‐run raids, sabotage, and…terrorism to wear down the enemy.” That’s it then, isn’t it?
I tend to think that the United States view the world as a political area and it is just a mere battle of principles of state governance. This democracy was expressed during the World Wars and the Post-world war where the United States struggled to fight against Fascism, Socialism and Communism. United States also view war as necessary in protecting Democracy the only difference it had with the wars fought by ancient Athens is that United States was successful. Fascism was destroyed and the practice of communism was lessened. United States together with its Allies have influenced many countries just like India and the Philippines.