¶ … Self-Reliance....Thoughts on the Frontier in American History.
Reaction paper: Self-reliance
The concept of self-reliance is extremely important in the discourse of politics today, as people argue that self-reliance from the federal government is a very important value. For Ralph Waldo Emerson, however, the world had a different meaning and resonance. First and foremost, self-reliance for Emerson meant the citizen was true to his or her ideals, versus conforming to the ideas of the past. What is uniquely great about America is the fact that it is not bound to tradition like Europe, and every American can create new ideas. Americans are self-reliant upon their inner truths. According to Emerson: "the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages."[footnoteRef:1] To be great, Emerson argues, America must make a virtue of is newness, and not seek to imitate Europe. [1: Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-reliance," The Literature Network, http://www.online-literature.com/emerson/588 / (September 10, 2012)]
As part of his argument, Emerson famously makes the statement that "whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." Every...
He is right in thinking that people have lost their sense of personal identity in order to put across behaviors that provides them with social acceptance. 2. Frederick Jackson Turner's first chapter in "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" makes it possible for readers to understand the writer's perspective concerning westward expansion in the U.S. And the effects that this expansion has had on the American people as a
In a democratic society, however, the responsibility for making governmental decisions is transferred to the citizenry and it is incumbent that the citizenry be provided with at least a rudimentary education so that they are in position to make such decisions. Although the original U.S. Constitution did not initially grant women the right to vote and otherwise participate in the government, women were afforded, on a limited basis, to
American Social Thought on Women's Rights This paper compares and contrasts the arguments in favor of women's rights made by three pioneering American feminists: Judith Sargent Murray, Sarah Grimke, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This analysis reveals the centrality of religious argumentation to the feminism of all three. Murray and Grimke were both converts to varieties of evangelical Protestantism who drew considerable intellectual and emotional nourishment from strands of Christianity, which encouraged,
... They were accustomed to living in the open, to enduring great fatigue and hardship, and to encountering all kinds of danger." The war against Spain and for the liberation of Cuba was one that would prove the superiority of America and its ideals. The United States, too, could join the nations of Europe as a major world power, with interests in every corner of the globe. Roosevelt became a hero
Southwest History Susan Shelby Magoffin was the first or among the first white American or non-Indian women to cross the Santa Fe Trail. She traveled as the young and new bride of a successful trader, Samuel Magoffin, who had established business with the Mexicans before he married Susan. Their journey from Independence, Missouri to Chihuahua, Mexico was their honeymoon. On the way, Susan recorded her experiences, perceptions and insights in a
He also related how his small group of friends played tricks with their unwitting neighbors. His friends would set fire on alcohol, rekindled candles blown out, imitate lightning flashes or by touching or kissing and make an artificial spider move (Bellis). Using the Leyden jar, Benjamin made an electrical batter, roasted a fowl on a spit fired with electricity, ignited alcohol by electricity through water, fired gunpowder and shocked wine
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