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The Bite that Changed America Essay examples

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The Bite that Changed America Man can capture an elephant, train a lion, and totally obliterate a species from this earth. If man can do all that surely he will have dominion over something as small and meek as a mosquito. The Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793 proved this notion to be false as this disease, transmitted solely by the bite of a female mosquito, wiped out one tenth of Philadelphia’s population in four months. Some make the mistake of seeing this as an isolated event but this epidemic was as far-reaching as the disease itself since it forever changed America’s Government, public health system and African American community. Since Philadelphia was, at the time, the capitol of the United States of America the epidemic proved …show more content…

In fear and mass panic Hundreds then thousands began to flee the city including members of government. Congress was adjourned and along with the president and other government officials moved to German Town (Gum 2). Many historians find this very signifcant since the discord between the Republicans and Federalists during this time over social and medical(both sides had opposing views on the cause of the epidemic) issues were escalating into heated and sometimes relatively violent arguments. The months while congress was adjourned allowed the tension to lesson possibly preventing a poltical eruption that would have set America on a different track (Kolsky 7).
With the countries capital city shaken to the core the people needed the guidance of Congress and the President. Unfortunately since many Americans feared their president would become autocratic like the Kimg of France in Versailles the President was not allowed to hold a meeting outside of the capital. Later Congress recognized the consequences this raised so they passed a law allowing the President to move a meeting in a time of danger or distress. More notably the 1793 outbreak(and smaller Yellow Fever outbreaks that would happen sporadically throughout the decade) helped dash the hopes of Philadelphia becoming the permanent capital. Instead the capital would become a small rural area to be titled Washington D.C which appeased the Federalists who had been

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