However, he noticed during his travel in America that the American democratic government had some dangers. In his book, Tocqueville were focus on the tyranny of the majority over minorities, the development of bad tendencies such as individualism and materialism but all those derived from a major problem which is the structure of the government that maintains liberty and equality in America. The fundamental principle of democracy is the sovereignty of the majority and that what Tocqueville states by saying in the beginning of the chapter seven that “The absolute sovereignty of the majority is the essence of democratic government, in democracy, nothing outside the majority is capable of mounting resistance to it”3. According to that statement, there is only one way to run the society and all decisions have to be on the will of the majority. But this led to despotism.
Each group of reformers challenged the words of our founding fathers as stated in the Constitution, “…in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity,…promote the general welfare…to ourselves and our posterity…,” progressives were searching for a perfect union for every individual to be satisfied with. Many black American activists became increasingly popular during this time period, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois were the most prominent. Both varied greatly in terms of ways to gain and retain rights as American citizens. Booker T. Washington, an ex-slave himself, believed black
In the historical days, Davis indicates in his article “What the Abolitionist Were Up Against” that even as far back as Aristotle, people thought that “from the hour of their birth, some men are marked out for subjection, others to rule” (17); basically stating that it is natural for some to have total power, and other to have a life of slavery. Through time, ideas changed, but slavery was still around. In today’s day and age, slavery exists because of “poverty, greed, marginalization, social complicity, and lack of political will to address the issue” (Herzfeld 9). Even Davis acknowledged that the visions of new world wealth always seemed to require slave labor (19). Many people in the general public do not realize that slavery still exists.
The North with all the industrial business had a total different way of life and can see how they totally disagreed with the way slaves were being used and treated. As said in political objective section Lincoln wanted a military victory prior to announcing the emancipation proclamation because he knew it would cause many more problems. Lincoln’s impatience and no military experience did render him from making better decisions which could have ended the war earlier and with less deaths and injuries. With the north controlling most of the railroads and weapons they had a huge advantage over the south, if he could have been a little more patient and trained his men properly could also have ended this much earlier. With the number of personnel the rebels had vs union was little to none, they held off the north by smart tactics of well-trained officers.
This decision contradicted the previous decision in the case Plessy Vs Ferguson which ruled that separate but equal was fine. The Judge said that the very fact that anything was separate was in fact not equal. The decisions and actions made by the Supreme Court helped aid the cause of equality in America during this time. People coming to America are excited because they know that America is the land of opportunity and equality. When in reality, equality was only a dream to many blacks in America.
Thomas Jefferson has inspired Americans and the homage paid to him by modern political candidates across the ideological spectrum alone is a testament to the enduring power of his ideas and his continuing hold on their imaginations. However, I feel that Jefferson’s legacy is complex and extremely contradictory. Although he distilled and eloquently expressed ideas about nature, society and rights I still think that he is a big hypocrite. The only thing I can say I took from Thomas Jefferson is that race plays a bigger role in society than we want to
Argumentative Essay: American Dream I believe the American Dream for the masses has lost most of its glamor. It has deteriorated over the years to be less than what it was for our ancestors when they came here. For many of the people, this question is falls under one of two categories. The first is they do not want to actually fulfill their American Dream. The second are those that are incapable of ever achieving that of which other strive so hard to achieve.
In the early 19th century, the blacks were a large percentage of the population in the south. They were fed up of being treated poorly and they were not afraid to voice their discontent and up rise against their “oppressors.” There was also an increase in the abolitionist movement in the south which started out in a passive manner but advanced to violent opposition against the status quo. They were championed by people like Benjamin Lundy, William Garrison and Theodre Weld. They had heard about their brothers in the north fighting against slavery and felt that there was no reason why they could not rebel aswell. This meant that the slave owners were starting to feel more nervous about their situation and also they had to make punishment against the blacks that spoke out more stringent so as to scare everyone else into line.
These things can alter the history of America if Blacks didn’t exist. Similar to the history of America, the politics of America would not stay the same without the existence of Blacks. Many policies in existence today would not be present. Ellison states, The nation could not survive being deprived of their presence because, by the irony implicit in the dynamics of American democracy, they symbolize both its most stringent testing and the possibility of its greatest human freedom(83). Blacks started off as slaves
This slavery is by far one of the more difficult subjects to look upon when discussing American history and its influences. Slavery shaped this nation, for bad and for good, and this country would not be the same without this dark stain that influenced so much. Yes it was a terrible thing that went on in this country for years, but good did come out of it. It may have taken time, even after slavery was abolished, but it started a movement that changed the world and the rights of all people, of all races, to come. Most people don’t realize that slavery didn’t start in the United States, it was actually started sometime in the 16th century, but the first Africans were sold in Jamestown around 1619.