Benjamin Franklin - the Ideal American Benjamin Franklin is considered by many to be one of the greatest Americans to ever live, and is also held as an important pillar of America's national heritage. Some may also argue that he exemplifies the Amer Continue Reading...
Benjamin Franklin is considered one of the most important men in American history. Among his many contributions to the world were inventions such as the Franklin stove, the bifocal, and the harnessing of electricity. He is also renowned for his writi Continue Reading...
Emerson's religion is almost animistic and is certainly monistic: he postulates an "identical nature" at the heart of all living creatures and views all life as one. In "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," however, Franklin' Continue Reading...
He also related how his small group of friends played tricks with their unwitting neighbors. His friends would set fire on alcohol, rekindled candles blown out, imitate lightning flashes or by touching or kissing and make an artificial spider move ( Continue Reading...
He also pointed out, when speaking France, Spain and the Netherlands, that if the Colonies won their freedom, those country's colonies in the New World would be much safer from English intrusions (Isaacson, PAGE). However, he always acted like a sta Continue Reading...
Franklin and the Puritans There were many different aspects to Benjamin Franklin's character and while many Americans like to concentrate on his more lurid, or worldly endeavors, his ethical beliefs were a very important part of his life. In fact, F Continue Reading...
McElroy's thesis serves to isolate America from Europe, intellectually, in its development, and affirms America's sense of being a special nation in relation to the rest of the world. The vastness of the American wilderness, and its wide-open space Continue Reading...
Benjamin Franklin termed himself a pragmatic deist. He believes "there is one Supreme must perfect being," however that this being is distant, and that it is not necessary to build a personal relationship with such a supreme God. He concluded that Continue Reading...
Alexis de Tocqueville makes a moral assessment of America, pointing out that the "goodness" inherent in American values like freedom and liberty is what makes the nation "great." The term "great" refers to the nation's power, status, and enduring pre Continue Reading...
By Chapter 11 McDonald begins discussing how presidents from Washington on dealt with the law based on the Constitution. And while federal law gradually gave way to state and local laws, because some issues and problems were simply easier to deal w Continue Reading...
American History 1600-1877 In the period from 1600 to 1877, it could be argued that the United States was only basically establishing itself as an independent nation in its own right -- the period in question builds up to the climax of the Civil War Continue Reading...
American Revolution after 1763 There are several factors leading to the American Revolution. During the 18th century, the British colonists in North America established themselves as a new nation. Increasingly, they had begun to see themselves as Am Continue Reading...
Benjamin Franklin -- Writer, Inventor, Founding Father, and First True American George Washington may be the father of his country, but Ben Franklin is the first true American. While George Washington was born a wealthy and propertied Virginia lando Continue Reading...
Benjamin Franklin & John Adams Both Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were 18th Century men, but both also stood out in their time and culture. They had different and unique views on many of the subjects of their day, from conflict to intimacy. S Continue Reading...
Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was one the most accomplished founders of the United States (Morgan, 2002). As a scientist and inventor and a diplomat with a strong track record of success, he eclipses Thomas Jefferson. No A Continue Reading...
Native Americans A strong connection between the Iroquois and the framers of the U.S. Constitution is now considered to be a historical fact. While many Americans still believe that the U.S. Constitution was based on Christian beliefs and tenets, le Continue Reading...
Glorious Cause: The American Revolution Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. Robert Middlekauff, born in 1927 in Washington state, holds a B.A. from the University of Washington Continue Reading...
American Literature Listen to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God preached. Discuss in the discussion group. Jonathan Edwards gives us a perfect example of the Calvinist beliefs of the Puritan settlers in early New England. Edwards studied theolog Continue Reading...
American National Character What characteristics are distinctly American, regardless of class, race, background? What is problematic about making these generalizations and inheriting the culture? What have we inherited exactly? What problems arise Continue Reading...
Latin American History For the first two generations of Latin America's radicals, liberals and democrats, the legacy of the colonial past was a terrible burden that their countries had to overcome in order to achieve progress and social and economic Continue Reading...
philosophy of education through a historical and then through an explicitly Christian lens, with a focus on the political role of education, and the Christian philosophy of John Milton. Milton's 1644 works Areopagitica and Of Education are invoked t Continue Reading...
In addition, both governments and churches began to grow suspicious of the group, probably because of the "organization's secrecy and liberal religious beliefs" (Watson, 2009). As a result, Portugal and France banned Freemasonry; in fact, it was a c Continue Reading...
Great Gatsby: A Novel of Reinvention "The 1920s were characterized by conservatism, affluence, and cultural frivolity, yet it was also a time of social economic and political change. The first modern decade in American history paved the way for the Continue Reading...
Territorial Expansion How did the U.S. acquire the territory in question? On the auspicious date of April 30, 1803, the United States of America bought eight hundred and twenty eight thousand square miles worth of land from the French government of Continue Reading...
Franklin's constantly being out of sync with his colleagues is seen once again in Franklin's inability to understand that the next logical progress of his republicanism was liberal democracy. Thus, as the oldest member of the Constitutional Conventi Continue Reading...
We see demonstrators using religious slogans to gain political influence, and Supreme Court justices questioned over whether the Ten Commandments should display on government property. The issue of separating church and state is one of the biggest Continue Reading...
Because of this, many modern Masonic lodges offer tours to the public where non-Masons can visit the lodge and learn more about Masonic activities (Rich & Merchant, 2003). Since the mid-nineteenth century, many scholars have also equated Masonr Continue Reading...
The milestone that the Civil Rights Movement made as concerns the property ownership is encapsulated in the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which is also more commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act, or as CRA '68. This was as a follow-up or reaffirm Continue Reading...
So who is an American and what an America can or cannot do are questions which are critical to the issue of legalizing immigrants. Does being an American mean you cannot show allegiance to any other country? The images of people raising and waving Continue Reading...
Revolutionary Era By the late 1780's many Americans had grown dissatisfied with the Confederation. It was unable to deal effectively with economic problems and weak in the face of Shay's Rebellion. A decade earlier, Americans had deliberately avoide Continue Reading...
In spite of their superiority in number, armament and war techniques, the British hopes in the alliance with Southern loyalists failed. They became vulnerable targets to the guerrilla tactics they were not used to. Cornwallis has to keep retreating Continue Reading...
2nd Continental Congress attempted to bring us through the Revolutionary War, but the members soon realized that we needed a form of central government on a permanent basis. The arguements began between Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist, and Thomas Continue Reading...
noble savage..." etc. The Noble, Savage Age of Revolution When Europeans first came to America, they discovered that their providentially discovered "New World" was already inhabited by millions of native peoples they casually labeled the "savages Continue Reading...
Mill and U.S. Constitution None of the issues being raised today by the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement are new, but rather they date back to the very beginning of the United States. At the time the Constitution was written in 1787, human rights a Continue Reading...
Founding Brothers When studying the history of the formation of the United States, one usually thinks in terms of separate events and individuals. However, the American republic was established, instead, by a series of important decisions and the jo Continue Reading...
In December of 1867, "the House defeated an impeachment resolution" (Carlton, 423), but when Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, this was seen as "a deliberate breach of the Tenure of Office Act" which brought new charges against him. Continue Reading...
" (Sage, 1) This is a matter of its emergent identity, which echoed so many of the trespasses of the British Crown. Indeed, we can see that in its vying for independence, the United States would still demonstrate in some ways its immediate cultural r Continue Reading...
George Washington: Man of Honor or Man of Shame? When most people think of George Washington they imagine a noble man of almost mythical proportions. Indeed, to many of Washington's contemporaries, as well, the former President of the United States Continue Reading...
Constitution of the United States was ratified after lengthy debate, mainly focused around issues related to the powers that would be bequeathed to the federal government. Although a gross oversimplification, the debate can be loosely qualified as b Continue Reading...
