He argued that social development studies showed changes in their social behaviors and their interactions once in their new environment. Thus, he concluded that the new society was uniquely America. He has a very valid argument, but I believe he could have maintained the strength of his argument while also including the fact that the American people coming from British roots, the Puritans, the Royalist elites, the North Midlanders of England and the North British and Irish were still unique as a sub-culture melded together by the choice for religious and economic freedom. The pursuit to own land and accumulate wealth, and not be under the rule of the crown was first and foremost in the early colonists minds. Fisher rests his entire point of view based on the roots of the four British folkways that separated the settlers in America.
But being an American doesn’t mean only to live within the boundaries of the United States or simply holding a U.S. citizenship. American people are not defined by “blood and soil” but more likely as Teddy Roosevelt said” Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul.” As a diverse country, what unite the disparate people who make up our country are common constitutional principles interpreted by the political culture, which is defined as broadly shared value, beliefs, and attitudes about how the government should function. American political culture emphasizes the values of liberty, equality, and democracy, and that is what sets our country apart from others. As David Miller, a leading liberal nationalist, emphasizes, a shared sets of characteristics constituting a national culture is a necessary feature of national identity. “ As with many other nations in the world, America has to bear the brunt of national identity erosion in the face of globalization.
The founding fathers of the fourth of July had a vision on this “important date” that they were celebrating Freedom, the freedom from the British. The founding fathers believed that they America was being released in the sense of its citizens being able to finally do whatever it was in their will that they wanted to do, not considering the blacks. “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right…and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.” Being said by John Adams depicts how they believed everyone in their country had its on right and claimed “Liberty couldn’t be preserved without general knowledge among
Today American Ideals Today Our nation has come a long way from the first time new settlers had stepped on it's shores in hopes of a better future. America's founding fathers promised equality, rights, and freedom for their new nation, but citizens have yet to live up to those ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence. One of the biggest outcomes of the Declaration of Independence was the freeing of slaves for the sake of equality. Although it was not a direct and immediate result from it, the inspiration was there. All laws and rights were made up to apply to
Today women have been given every opportunity that men are given and are now equivalent among men. The Declaration of Independence served a purpose far beyond that of a public notice of separation. Its ideas inspired mass eagerness for the American cause, inspiring the citizens to fight for personal freedom, self-government. The historical Declaration of Independence brought a great impact on the lives of the Americans. The Declaration of Independence, nevertheless, enlightened the citizens of America on what an independent government, which absolutely acknowledges and respects the unalienable rights of its fellow citizens, should be.
Nourhan Samy Mohamed Khairy Essay Course 3 Saturday 18,2010 Freedom and the American Dream What is meant by being free? Why is it always an issue of discussion? These questions are common and sometimes they have been the dominating issues in some societies like the American society. Many years ago, from the very early steps in founding the new American society, freedom has been one of the most important concepts which people have dreamed to establish. Actually there are two sides in this issue, one of them is the ideals and the literal concepts that they have wished to keep and the other one is the lived fact that exists on the reality.
While many disregard this system as cruel and unfair, in reality it helped to shape America as it is today. Without the help of this system, economies would not be as developed as they are now. Unfree labor played a very important role in shaping the economy and society of colonial American through the use of indentured servants and slavery. The system of temporary servitude in the New World was established out of practices used in New England. In short, indentured servants were mainly poor British people without jobs.
If we were asked to explain the contradiction between our beliefs and reality many of us would be hard pressed to do so without tracing back how we came to know and understand the American dream to begin with. One way to better understand the meaning of the American dream is to examine it within the framework provided by Hochschild, who places the ideology of the American dream within four tenets of success. According to Hochschild these tenets define the American dream as well as its intrinsic flaws by answering the following questions about the pursuit of success: Question Who may pursue success? Answer-"everyone regardless of ascriptive traits, family background or personal history"(18). Flaws Fails to account for aspects of inequality such as race and sex discrimination (26).
The seminar was very opinionated by all who talked. The songs have different opinions about America and the seminar was informative on what other people around me believe the stereotypical American is like and what they think of what our country does. Some of the songs we herd in class were very patriotic in my opinion. “Proud to be an American” is an example of a patriotic song. When Lee Greenwood sings, “I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.” , he is saying that being free is what he believes it means to be am American.
If you’re such a patriot that loves your “country” so much, why did you kill, rape, enslave, steal from and hurt the people of this country. It’s not just the people but it’s the land too. If you love this land from the mountains to the prairie to the ocean white with foam, why do you act as if pollution and global warming don’t exist? Politicians might say, “I am a politician because I love this country and I want to make it better.” But you can’t make this country better by becoming corrupted and giving in to personal gain. No one is going to think you’re a better candidate if you ignore the real topic and try to put down the other runners.