Why Is American History Important

Improved Essays
American history specifically, I feel it's very important to know it because this country is built on fundamentals that our past has been done. All men and woman are created equal, means there have been laws set for all of us here in America. All people are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.There are these ideas that are believed, we have to understood them. And I think the answer to understanding these ideas comes about in learning the history of this country. American history is very important to today's society. And example being in the Fire Service. One of the greatest things about the fire service is our history and our traditions. The American fire service has a rich history that dates back a few hundred years with many traditions.

Describing the possible migration of ancient peoples. Early migration routes, when humans first left Africa, they followed the coasts, where resources were abundant. When the first wave had moved across the Middle East into
…show more content…
Its very difficult to tell that 500 years later why the europeans went out to explore. A possible answer is that in history it tells us about how the Spanish were much more motivated by God than the English were. When the Spanish conquered they took priests with them. When the English came to North America, they did not make a strong effort to convert the natives. They are more likely to push the Indians off the land. They really wanted gold and glory and used God as a motivational technique. Spain really used God as a means of social control. In this view Spain was not truly interested in the spiritual welfare of the Native Americans. They worked hard to conquer new territories and they extracted all the wealth they could from those territories. They tried building empires to try to overcome them. The historical record show that the country was interested in God and not at all interested in gold or

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Columbian Exchange Dbq

    • 1599 Words
    • 7 Pages

    As a result of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World in 1492, Spanish men endured months of difficult voyages in search of three things in the Americas- gold, glory, and God. In addition, having had arrived with the drive to conquer, they were soon enough met with mighty and diverse civilizations that made up Mesoamerica-- proving itself to be the perfect opportunity to take the wealth of these peoples, obtain territory, and maybe convert a few souls to Catholicism. However, these civilizations were very large and very strong. The courage, strength, and the will of an “almighty God” of a small band of Spanish conquistadores alone would not have been enough to lead to the downfall of these mighty empires. Rather, regardless of how…

    • 1599 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Columbian Exchange Dbq

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Beginning in the Early Modern Era, European explorers discovered North America and began conquering it. The civilizations that already inhabited the continent had their own culture and government that rivaled that of the Europeans. During the following years when Europeans traveled to the continent, cultural exchanges took place between the “New World” and “Old World” that was called the Colombian Exchange. This was the cause of the loss of culture and loss of life and liberty that the native people of the continent experienced due to the fact that Europeans viewed them as inferior and due to their genetic differences. At the same time this was the cause of the increase in wealth and power for the Europeans since this land was not ruled yet…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Opposing Beliefs of Bartolome de Las Casas and Juan Gines Sepulveda The Spanish began colonizing the New World with the intent of spreading Christianity and obtaining land to expand the Spanish Empire. The Spanish explorer Bartolome de Las Casas and humanist Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda had differing beliefs upon how Natives within the Americas should be converted to Christianity and how they should be treated once their land was colonized. Bartolome de Las Casas believed that the Spanish ,while colonizing the New World, should practice the conversion of Natives to Christianity in a peaceful manner which would not disturb their daily lives.…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Columbus first set out on his journey, his goal was India, but unexpectedly, he landed in the Americas. The Spaniards believed that they were superior to the Natives. Christianity was the religion they grew up believing. The Europeans believed the practice of other religions was erroneous, and when they saw human sacrifices, it only solidified their belief that the Natives must be cleansed. The Spanish only saw them as a tool to use in their own favor.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The 16th and 17th centuries were characterized by a want for three things: gold, glory, and God. Countries sent explorers and settlers to the New World to stake a claim on these coveted ideals. Among these countries, France, England, and Spain emerged most prominent. Their most diverse and interesting encounter was with the Native Americans, who seemed to be everywhere. All of the relationships between these major players and the Native Americans involved religion and ended badly.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Aside from the rewards system the Spanish thought as themselves as literal workers for God and to fulfil God’s desires. In this sense, it made the conquest of the new world inevitable with god on Spanish’s side. However, completion for this “work of God” was incomplete and minimal. It was described that the “Spanish control over the larger area that would become modern Mexico was virtually nonexistent.” Even after 1521the end of the…

    • 2043 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Long ago, the Spanish traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Latin America. The Spanish settlers colonized the native people and taught them Christianity. Three centuries later, about 1808, the Spanish settlers thought that the king's laws were unfair. The taxes were too high and King Ferdinand VII didn’t allow them to have free trade.…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slavery is an important aspect of American history; it has shaped our country into what it is today. The civil war took place from 1861-1865. Without slavery, the civil war would not have occurred. Slavery divided the north and south, the differing opinions on things especially slavery is what led to the American civil war. The south expressed how slavery was beneficial for the whole nation because everyone depended on the southern economy and slavery was key to the prosperity of our nation.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the year of 1492, the Spanish monarchs funded Christopher Columbus on his voyage to what was later called “the New World,” initiating a race between European countries to send out explorers to become the continent’s dominating power. Driven by the promise of wealth, status, and new beginnings, explorers conquered the lands of North and South America, resulting in their direct disruption of the indigenous peoples’ lives. Following this contact, the lives of both Native Americans and Europeans were permanently transformed by the Europeans’ desire for wealth and need to spread and dominate through religion. While providing beneficial outcomes for Europeans, these motives ultimately incited the deterioration of once-thriving native civilizations…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    America has changed a lot throughout history some good changes and some bad changes. All the things America has been through just makes our hopes for the future brighter. In American history, there have been many events that have changed America; wars, terrorist attacks, and civil rights movements. Our American history is all about wars. The Civil war showed us as Americans that we can move on from the past and become united as one nation again.…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Impact of Christianity on Native People in North America With the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, the Native or Indigenous people of the country have been under threat from both attacks by Christopher Columbus and the diseases he brought with him. The Natives were the true owners of the land of the Americas but it was sadly taken from them by invasion of the European. This was not the only thing taken, as this also led to the destruction of their religion. As Christianity saw itself as the one true religion, any other religion would not do. Their target were the Natives who they first killed without mercy to eradicate their religion, then decided to change them by teaching them Christianity.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his speech, “Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are,” historian David McCullough demonstrates that it is important to learn and understand history because of its influence on present-day society. McCullough emphasizes that past generations were inexperienced and imperfect, but their improvisational character shaped destiny. Additionally, McCullough mentions the “hubris of the past”; everything that people are doing now, having now, and thinking now is the best it has ever been. Finally, McCullough stresses that today’s citizens cannot understand the decisions made throughout time without learning history to recognize and comprehend the differences between past and present-day attitudes.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    According to President Ronald Reagan “having a positive view of American history” meant, that even though America has many things in its past that we are not proud of, we shouldn’t let that affect the country we have today. That we took our past history, the good and the bad and looked at in a positive way, by learning from our mistakes and fixing it.…

    • 65 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The exploration and domination of the New World by the Spanish during the 15th and 16th century have been interpreted as the result of groups of bloodthirsty soldiers wanting nothing more than gold in their rucksacks and kill counts in their heads. As history has made clear, Spanish priests were also important historical actors during this age of discovery who made it their task to convert the natives to Catholicism. The conquering soldiers physically torn at the Natives while, at the same time, the priests harmed the natives spiritually. The importance of history is that we can learn from the past to aid our future. In other words, does the blindness of Spanish culture while regarding the Natives justify the physical, social and religious destruction they caused to the Natives?…

    • 1874 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The exploration and colonization boom of the 16th-17th centuries permanently connected Europe and the Americas, a connection that eventually formed the modern “West.” This new global connection not only created positive effects, but it also created a few negative ones as well. The European and American perspectives vastly changed because of this new connection that was created. Before the connection came to be, Europeans believed there were multiple continents, unaware of how big the world truly was. The Europeans believed that new trade routes, adventures, and the spread of religion could be a good aspect to come out of exploring the world, but it was also dangerous, unknown, and time-consuming.…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays