D.C.

On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence became one of the founding documents of the United States of America. Addressed to King George III, the king of Great Britain it explains the grievances of the American colonies and that they were leaving the British Empire. The preamble of this great document reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and…

Over the years people have been overusing the First Amendment as source of defense. Since the first amendment entitles people the freedom of speech, people like to use it as an excuse to express their emotions about a certain situation knowing that the first amendment protects them. Therefore, they take less responsibility for their actions and blame the constitution for their slip-ups. In Free-Speech Follies by Stanley Fish, Fish addresses the First Amendment issue. Fish states that people use…

What Motivates People to Do Good? The American author Kurt Vonnegut once noted, “Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.” Puritanism stems from Puritan ideals while Humanism stems from Enlightenment thinking. The Puritans, God fearing people, focus more on the afterlife and godly approval. Humanist, God respecting people, believe that humans can gain God’s graces through commendable acts towards others. In today’s…

“The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future” stated by Theodore Roosevelt. Throughout history in America from 1865-1940’s, America has strived to reconstruct the brokenness of America’s North and South, to get African American right to vote as well as women’s rights and minorities. The railroads being an important key for trading in America and immigrants coming to America for fresh new start. The First World War as well as the Great depression and the New deal…

Pericles’s and Lincoln’s funeral orations both reflect the use of constitutive rhetoric as they use persuasive speech to build up the community. As funeral orators, it is both Pericles and Lincoln’s job not to make the pain go away, but rather bring the grieving community together through overcoming the divide within their respective communities both deaths and civil wars cause. Although providing s successful rhetoric for a grieving community often seems impossible, both Pericles and Lincoln…

ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTING SYSTEM Critique/analyze the Electoral College Electoral College voting system applies to the election of the president and the vice president. It is a system whereby votes are granted to each state based on its representation in congress. Votes therefore are not allotted in respect to population. Each state is given a minimum of three votes in addition to two votes for senators. This voting system should be abolished because the distribution of votes per state is not…

An Exercise in Embarrassment A few years ago, over Spring break I went on a week-long vacation to Washington DC with my family. This included, my mother, father, sister and my mother’s sister and brother along with their respective families. Over a period of four days we walked over sixty miles and I got to visit some of the most extraordinary places I could ever imagine. Standing at the proverbial head of the table was the Lincoln Memorial, a magnificent cross section of history and reverence…

As great as Abraham Lincoln was, he never went to college and did not earn a degree. He was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, in 1809. Lincoln suffered from depression many times as a child, but he went on to become the 16th president after winning the 1860 election. During that election, President Lincoln did not win a single southern state. He also did not win the popular vote during the election. President Lincoln’s legacy has a positive impact on American society. Everything did not come easy…

How Does Society Affect American Literature? When you think of America you think of white picket fences, big houses, with perfect families eating around a person dinner table sharing about their day. Even though this isn’t the typical life for most Americans, how did the idea get there? How come everything is the way it is now? Today, I am here to show you these reasons and more. We have all heard a creation story, whether it was Adam and Eve or the Big Bang. A creation story told by the…

Additionally to women, the Native Americans had contributed greatly to the culture and identity of the United States as a cohesive whole by serving as a collective force against their gradual defeat and eventual evacuation, by which they had served as a sort of guideline of morality for the American settlers. By leading battles and other such conflicts out of pure strength and will, by standing up for what had remained of their culture and identity at that point in time, the Native Americans…