Category: Short Essays and Responses

The very concept of religion implies having a set of values and some degree of a moral code amongst its followers. The Anglo-Protestant religion and the cultural values that came along with it played a significant role in the unity and progression of the early United States; as time went on, however, the dilution of the importance of religion in society has actually served to the advantage of the immensely progressive nation. At the onset of the United States, Anglo-Protestant religious activity helped unite citizens across state lines under common beliefs and values. While this was beneficial at first, diversity is an important element of any progressive society and the dilution of the Anglo-Protestant stereotype has allowed for new, more enlightened thinking to spread throughout the United States.

            History has shown that having religious aspects in a society is not intrinsically a bad thing. In many cases, the idea of religion keeps people in line and has the ability to build tightknit communities that are able to work towards common goals. This type of structure can be traced to even ancient civilizations like Egypt, where thousands of people came together to contract religious monuments and improve their civilizations. Religion in the early United States was no different. The common belief in one God and the same belief system united people across state lines. Before the United States came to be and mere colonies existed on the east coast of North America, the Great Awakening was “the first time…the colonies [were brought] together in a common social, emotional, and religious experience” (Huntington 109). Further, the Anglo-Protestant cultural values also promoted hard work and self-made success. This so-called “Protestant work ethic” became ubiquitous throughout the United States. This mentality undoubtedly contributed to the early success of the United States. By uniting an entire people under one well-defined belief system, the Protestant religion was arguably the most powerful and influential force in early America.

            While common ideals, values, and beliefs can be advantageous, they also pose issues towards forward thinking and can serve as barriers to progress. The future of America is not one stereotypical, “American man,” but rather a “conglomeration of peoples with different cultures” (Huntington 128). There is no longer a place in America for one centralized type of American man. The United States today is a place where diversity is welcomed, to an extent, and the population is made up of a vastly diversified group of people. If the United States had remained in the past and not shed its Anglo-Protestant identity, it would be failing to maintain its very founding principle of being a nation of immigrants. Keeping the Anglo-Protestant mindset would not fit with the current form of American thinking, where society in general is more agnostic and less committed to serving a higher power. Forcing this type of thinking onto its citizens would restrain freedoms in American society and ultimately harm evolution of the nation. This is not to say that the idea of “Americanizing” immigrants should disappear completely, but rather that it should instead refer to concepts that bring people closer in today’s world, like the ability to communicate in a common language or at the very least interact with each other in a positive and constructive fashion (Huntington 131). America is no longer a nation with any one single mindset or mentality, but rather a diverse place where people of different cultural, religious, social backgrounds come together to proudly live in harmony under one flag.

Just reposting these for your convenience.

For everyone, be sure to read the guidelines for how to participate in workshops (I’ve cut and pasted the whole thing below just in case you can’t find it).

If you’re among those students who were assigned to write an essay on this week’s topic, please be sure to post your essay to the blog by the end of today (Wednesday), under the menu item for Short Essays. Be sure it has your name on it. Also, please make four (4) printed copies of your essay and bring those with you to class on Friday.

If you’re not among the students assigned to write an essay this week, please read ALL of the short essays posted for this week before class meets on Friday. You should write comments on the blog to AT LEAST two different short essays by our class meeting on Friday. (You may write comments on more than two essays if you like–all of this writing will count toward your blog writing requirement). Then come to class on Friday ready to participate in a workshop session.

The ABCs of Critically Commenting on the Writing of Fellow Students

The general idea behind this practice is that writing is a social process, involving both writers and readers, and one of the most effective ways by which writers can improve their work is to get feedback from readers and revise with that feedback in mind. 

Some important points:

• Read the whole essay in class, in your workshop group, with someone reading it aloud while others follow along. 
  
• After you’ve read it, take 5-10 minutes for readers to carefully go over the essay alone and make notes regarding their comments.
  
• Go around the group, allowing each individual a few minutes to comment on the essay. Don’t be in a hurry.  Be generous to the writer, but if something doesn’t make sense in the text, don’t ‘fill in the blank’ and assume you know what the author was trying to say.  You are obliged to tell the author about incoherencies and problems in the argument. 
  
• Be sure when making your commentary to make constructive critical comments in addition to pointing out aspects of the writing that were in your view effective.  Simply cheerleading for your fellow students might make them (and you) feel good, but it will not help anybody to become a better writer.
  
• Be as concrete as possible in your comments.  This is a concrete comment: “Consider omitting or moving paragraph 2.  The theme it takes up seems out of place at that point in the essay, and it makes murkier what is otherwise a very fine introduction to the argument.”  Here are some comments that aren’t very concrete: “Great job!” or “Lacks focus!”
  
• Your comments should be detailed and substantive in class. By the end of the day Friday, you should post a commentary statement as a comment on the essay on the blog.  This should be a minimum of 150 words.
  
• Authors should take notes on the commentary they receive from others, the better to absorb its content through active reflection. Authors may respond to comments after all the readers of their essay have had a chance to make their commentaries.
  
• Remember overall to be friendly about this and to try not to get adversarial or defensive (this last point applies especially to the authors).  No writing is perfect in its first incarnation/draft form; in fact, no writing is perfect even after many, many revisions.  The best writers talk about their desire to go back and revise even brilliant books they have written.  The whole idea here is that the crafting of effective arguments in writing is a complex process that takes a lot of time and effort and that can be greatly aided by a community of readers that actively aids the writers in the process of refining and revising an argument.  So, don’t feel personally attacked if someone says your argument is confusing.  Ultimately, the intent is to help you make a more effective argument.

We’ve read the first six chapters of Huntington, in which he sketches a good deal of American history with an eye to describing American identity.

Using these chapters from the Huntington book, respond to the statement in bold below. You may take any position on it you like; just be sure that you make a case for your position based on the readings.

American national identity was, according to Huntington’s analysis, strongly unified around a core set of Anglo-Protestant cultural values through much of the country’s history. Whatever social good was produced by that cultural unity, it is a good thing that the core Anglo-Protestant values have been diluted more recently. The moral and especially the religious content of that culture was too strict, demanding, and ultimately confining.