Author: Evans Stephenson

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Reading and Film Presentations and Discussion

United 93 ERA

   United 93 was a new perspective of the 9/11 attacks for me. When the attacks happened, I was only 2 years old. I don’t have any memory of how people felt while the attacks were happening. This movie gave me emotional responses that I didn’t know I had to these attacks. In the beginning of the movie I noticed the lack of preparedness the flight directors had for a emergency situation such as a hijacking. The people on the flight seemed like average Americans to me. Their response to the hijacking was horrifying to watch. In the same situation I would feel just as confused and scared as the passengers. The attempt of the passengers to take control of the plane was the most shocking part of the movie for me. The fact that they found the courage to fight the hijackers for control of the plane was emotional for me. It was horrifying to watch people get stabbed and killed on a airplane. 

   Another part of the movie that interested me was the lack of communication between the military and the flight controllers. The military had trouble figuring out what was going on and which planes had been hijacked. Some of the military officials tried to get clearance to attack these hijacked planes so they couldn’t attack the capital. It was hard to think that the military was considering attacking these hijacked planes, knowing that American citizens were on board. The attacks caused shock and confusion among all of the responding groups in this movie. The American people could not have predicted these horrifying attacks.

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Reading and Film Presentations and Discussion

Huntington-ERA Chapter 3

  In the beginning of this chapter, Huntington differentiates between settler and Immigrants. Settlers refer to the first societies of Anglo-Protestants that first settled in America. They brought with them their own culture that became the common culture of the United States. An immigrant is anyone who came to America after the settlers, seeking to join their society. Immigrants went through culture shock while assimilating to the Anglo-American society. These immigrants were drawn to America by the American Creed which is based on the principles of liberty, equality, individualism, representative government and private property. These core principles are at the center of Anglo-Protestant culture. In todays society, 49% of Americans are descended from settlers that were here before 1790. The other 51% have ancestors the immigrated in the time since then. This means that nearly half of the American population has been settled here for at least three hundred years. The idea that we are a “Nation of Immigrants” is far from the truth.

     The American Creed allows for a basis of national identity. The idea that all Americans hold these values, and that they are universally applicable allows Americans to base their identity off of these values. Many countries other than the U.S. rely on ethnic and social history to form a national identity. Americans believe that to be an American, you need only ascribe to the same set of ideals as the rest of America. This idea is not represented in American history. Americans have traditionally used racial, and religious bias to prevent Asians, Catholics, and Western Europeans from immigrating to the United States.

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Thoughts on “EXTERIOR FORM OF NORTH AMERICA”

   This excerpt from Tocqueville is a detailed account of Americas physical charachteristics in the early 19thcentury. He describes the country as it stood hundreds of years ago before it was colonized by Europeans. The make up of the land was completely different before the Europeans colonized. The forests were more dense and the Natives had not introduced any industry to the continent. It is interesting to see the contrast between the state of the continent pre-European influence.

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Thoughts on “ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS, AND IMPORTANCE OF THIS ORIGIN IN RELATION TO THEIR FUTURE CONDITION”

   In this excerpt Tocqueville makes the distinction between the populations that settled the North, and those that settled the South of the United States. The southern colonies such as Virginia were populated by prospectors from the lower classes of society that had no strong religious affiliation. In contrast to this, the groups that populated the Northern Colonies were extremely religious. The Puritans expressed many of their religious beliefs in their laws. Tocqueville does a good job of expressing the beliefs and backgrounds of the different groups that immigrated to America. These beliefs went on to influence the political processes in America for the next few centuries.

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Short Essays and Responses

Short Essay 1

This statement is correct and that many things have changed since Tocqueville analyzed America 150 years ago. Tocqueville’s analysis does not account for major changes in American society that have shaped it as it is today. His analysis of the situation at the time is comprehensive and takes many factors into account. It provides insight into the problems of America and how they might resolve and or continue to cause problems. 
    One way in which Tocqueville’s analysis differs from the present state of affairs in America is the integration of Native Americans in todays society. In the United States today Native-Americans have adopted the common American culture. They use much of the same day to day technology and services as the rest of American Society. In the time Tocqueville wrote, many Native American tribes inhabited the interior of the American Continent. It was Tocqueville’s opinion that Europeans were not able to civilize these tribes. The quote “Europeans have not been able to change the character of the Indians; and though they have had power to destroy, they have never been able to subdue and civilize them,” shows that Tocqueville is doubtful that the Native Americans will become civilized. He proposed that instead of trying to adopt a agrarian lifestyle the Native Americans would be wiped out or dispersed. He uses examples of the southern states in the Union evicting tribes off of their lands to show that the Americans treat the Native tribes in the same way the Europeans did. Tocqueville was correct in his prediction of Native American decimation. His assessment of the situation provided an accurate description of the Native American’s problems at the time. His readings do not offer much insight on modern Native American culture. They instead act as a insight into European opinions about the Native Americans in the mid 19thcentury. 

  At the time Tocqueville wrote his book, there was lots of political discussion over Slavery. Tocqueville talks much about the political divide between the states that support slavery and those that don’t. He believed that slavery would not last forever in American society. The divide between North and South was unsustainable and would lead to increased political division.  His quote “Slavery, now confined to a single tract of the civilized earth, attacked by Christianity as unjust and by political economy as prejudicial, and now contrasted with democratic liberty and the intelligence of our age, cannot survive.” shows Tocqueville’s critical view on the ethics of slavery. Much of what he says is no longer applicable to our modern-day society because slavery has been abolished for one hundred and fifty years. The abolishment of slavery has had profound effects on society since Tocqueville’s time. In the United States today millions of African Americans vote in elections, own property and pay taxes. In Tocqueville’s day African Americans had no rights. In the early 19thcentury, much of the population of the Americas was prevented from voting. Today all adults are legally allowed to participate in government. These changes have drastically changed the course of our society and make Tocqueville’s analysis less applicable.