The Purpose Of American History

Americas history is what defines us and who we are as a country. We were built on hard work, sacrifice, wanting to be free and independent to be who we want to. Now a-days, we seem to have fallen away from this. Everything is given to us so easily on our computer and through technology that we have no need to work hard anymore. This is the downfall in humanity because as we keep going, life will continue to get easier and we won’t want to do anything. History is our hope so that we can learn from what we did in our past and how things were done then.For starters, we can see what mistakes we did and make sure we don’t do them again. If we continue to the same thing over and over again, there’s no way for our society to improve from this. Our

September 11, 2001 was a milestone in the history of the United States, which experienced a collective shock and trauma that has never been forgotten. In the United States most of all, the entire airline and tourist industry was driven to the edge of bankruptcy and would not have survived at all without a major bailout by the federal government. It was already in poor condition for many years after deregulation in 1978, the September 11th attacks were a Near Death Experience. After that time, the airlines decided that they could never permit another attack like this or they would be driven out of business. As it was, their stock prices collapsed and passenger schedules did not return to pre-September 11th levels for four years. All previous security plans were judged to be useless and inadequate, and were taken out of the hands of private security contractors and turned over to the federal government. New and more restrictive laws like the Patriot Act came into being, and the U.S. launched an all-out war on Al Qaeda that has continued for eleven long years.

Over the years, my family and I have visited numerous forts, museums, and parks during summer vacation that tell the story of our nation’s past. Standing in the same places as many influential people have stood tends to make me want to explore the stories of the events which unfolded there. History is a giant story of the entire world which I can use to learn from the mistakes and victories of the past. Studying history allows me to understand how events unfolded and affected other people. Through thorough study of history, it becomes easier for me to find parallels between the past and present day events. Taking AP US History would allow me to challenge myself to better understand the history of our nation and the way our nation has

The 1920s stand as a monumental decade in American history with radical shifts in the values and practices of many Americans due to the revelations in science and the birth of the Modernist movement that spurred societal reformation. However, these progressive ideals and values were met with fierce opposition in many regards that created a polarity in America between proponents of this new religion and advocates for the traditional old religion of Christianity and conservative principles. The 1920s served to utterly alter the values of American society with the genesis of unprecedented scientific knowledge and an end to World War I, both of which served to create a sharp divide between the new religion of Americans who sought to modernize culture and education and the old religion of Americans who advocated for a return to the archaic forms of living.

The history that is discussed in classrooms today is not what it once was. History is no longer held with the same value as it was once before. History repeats itself. We can learn the story of history and unpack it to understand. Through history we can learn the effects of change. Through history we learn so much.

American culture has changed over time as the country has grown. It is important to know our history so we can avoid the same mistakes that our ancestors made before us. With knowledge of our history and our prior mistakes, we can learn from them and make better decisions in the future.

Our history is what helped make us as Americans who we are today. not all of our history was good: the wars, slavery, etc., but we have come a long way. With those horrible things that happened we were like children just learning from the mistakes we made in life to form a better American. I disagree with slavery 100% it is inhumane, but if we didn’t already go through the years of having slaves then perhaps 10 years from now we would. It was

History has the unrelenting power to reenter our present lives and show that it is far from a dormant topic that is drilled into school students. The past has a purpose to teach us, to provide us with the knowledge of our failures along side our successes. The past is there to be sure that we do not continue to make the same mistakes endlessly. If we constantly look toward the future without remembering our country’s past experiences, than we are going to concede to repeat.

Many points in history are very important because of how they happened and what effects those historical events made possible in the future. Without history America would not know where we came from or how we got to where we are today. History helps us as Americans make decisions that could improve our future as a country, because without history to lead us in the right direction we could constantly make the same mistakes over and over again. There are many important times in history that greatly influenced how America has grown into the country we are today.

When you think of “the First American”, who do you think of? Do you think of a pilgrim or a Native American? Do you think of Benjamin Franklin? Probably not, but he has been graciously granted with this very title. Franklin is a large part of American history. A renowned polymath, he held many occupations including; an author, printer, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist and more! All throughout history there have been a plethora of inspirational, hardworking, intelligent, life-changing personages, one of them being Benjamin Franklin. He changed not only the world, but America and its history with his discoveries, knowledge, and beneficial insights.

The history of journalism in the United States has spanned from the first colonist crossing the Atlantic Ocean to today’s mass media. Even before we were a country we had printers and journalists writing and printing stories for the people. Looking back, we can divide journalism history into different time periods and see how news reporting developed over time. Some of these time periods include the Colonial Period which spanned from when the first Pilgrims came to America in the mid 1600’s till the 1760’s. Other periods include the Revolution period which picked up from the colonial period till the early 1780’s. The period of Westward Expansion lasted from the 1800 to the 1830’s, then there was the Civil War Period which spanned from the 1840’s till the 1860’s. Finally, the Interpretative Period which lasted from 1930’s and continues to today. Looking back at these time periods we can see what was considered “news” and what was “newsworthy”, the dominate issues of the periods, and how far we have come as a society from those issues.

Moyers cites in this document reasons why Americans might not be interested in studying history. He said Americans are the people of future. Americans always look ahead, not behind. They spend more time on improving and developing for the future more than looking back to history. They consider study of history is going back, while their goal is coming up for the future. They don’t like they idea going backward, they learn to step forward. Moyers says that his mother, who is also American, said often to him, “be sure your headlights are brighter than your tail-lights.” Headlights are in the front and tail-lights, of course, are on the back. Americans believe in concept future is more important than history. They rely more on television rather

Americans have a habit of not paying attention to History. Americans learn in school that history is important because we can learn from our past mistake, but that is not all there is to it. Learning from past mistake is not all to our histories importance. History has a big influence on people who study it, so it is not just about learning it to pass a class, but it is about the impact it makes on Americans.

Before we go into any specifics, let’s talk about what hope is. Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for certain things to happen within oneself. This, however, is just a definition given in a dictionary which your brain understands. We all know that hope means something much more in our hearts. The hearts of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Susan B. Anthony, and Martin Luther King, Jr. has definitely found the meaning of hope in their hearts.

Before I took this class, American History, my childhood was influenced by movies and books about Cavalry and Indians. My young mind developed a likeness to the Cavalry on horseback. It was impressive to look at that I wanted to be one of them. Needless to say, I am pro-Cavalry. To me they represent strength, gallantry, and savior of the oppressed.