The main idea of American History will be debated as long as people can remember the United States. For this web log, and the cover letter to the resume of your portfolio, you will write about the metaphoric character of American History.
1. Do any of these authors appear to disagree with each other? Explain.
2. Which statement about US history comes closest to your own beliefs? Explain by using three significant events from American History to support your belief.
3. In your own words, what’s a central theme in American History?
The genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges, or churches, or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors, but always most in the common people.
– Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist
America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.
– Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH (April 14, 1889 – October 22, 1975) was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global perspective.
The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows... If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
– Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer.
You can't say civilization don't advance... in every war they kill you in a new way.
– Will Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was a Cherokee-American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer and actor.
It was wonderful to find America, but it would have been more wonderful to miss it.
– Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist.
I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.
– John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American politician and the second President of the United States (1797–1801), after being the first Vice President (1789–1797) for two terms
I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the Rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of Government. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which Humane Nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.
– Abigail Adams (née Smith) (November 11, 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States, and mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
– George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
– Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States.
We meet no Stranger, but Ourself
– Emily Dickinson (December 10, 1830– May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life
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1. George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson seem to disagree with each other because George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". But Thomas Jefferson stated that he was concerned more about the future than that of the past and seemed willing to forget the past saying, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past". One thinks the past is important while the other thinks it's really no big deal.
ReplyDelete2. The quote that comes closest to my own beliefs is Frederick Douglass' quote on America and progress. "The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows... If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters". I agree with this quote because it means to achieve something great there are many obstacles and you can't expect it to be easy. For example, it wasn't easy to pass the Health Care Reform bill. And congress now is also going through a hard time trying to keep the Clean Air Act strong.
3. A theme could be "A fresh start is hard". When Columbus first discovered this land, it wasn't easy negotiating with Indians. After we ran the British out of the country after the American Revolution, it wasn't easy starting off on our own. Our economy was down. We had problems trading. But we got through.
1.The authors that appear to disagree with each other are George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson. George says that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and Thomas says that “I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. They disagree because George believes that you should remember the past so you don’t make the same mistakes in the future. Thomas believes that looking at dreams in the future is better than the past. They deviate because George thinks that you should remember the past and Thomas prefers to dream about the future.
ReplyDelete2.The statement that comes closest to my believes is “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. This quote matches my beliefs because by remembering the past, you can learn from your mistakes and not repeat them again in the future. One event from American History is the Civil War. This was the biggest war in history. This war lasted for four years and killed 620,000 Americans. There was war on the east and west side. The economy was in ruins and a tremendous amount of hostility remained. After the war one question remained “How could the United States be united once more”. By dreaming on to the future and not remembering the past, this type of war can occur again. The second event from American History is slavery. It was extremely inequitable to put American Americans through slavery. Many people died of being beaten, malnutrition, etc. Thanks to abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison slavery came to an end. A quote from William is “Where there is a human being, I see God-given rights”. Should people have to go through this type of torture again! The third event in American history is the Trail of Tears. This was extremely selfish of Jackson to put the Indians through all of that torture to move them west. Many Indians died and lost their families.
3.A central theme in American History is to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them in the future. Another theme is that men and women are all created equal no matter what nationality. The last theme is to always remember the past. It can be used for knowledge and wisdom in the future.
1. I believe that Thomas Jefferson and George Santayana seem to disagree with each other. Santayana says that you must remember the past to not repeat it, and Jefferson says that he doesn’t care about the past, only the future. Both of them disagree with each other because both of them are concerned with different time periods
ReplyDelete2. Arnold Joseph Toynbee‘s quote comes closest to my beliefs. “America is a large dog in a small room. Each time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair”. That is saying that America is a very large country in a small world, and whenever it tries to be friendly, it causes problems and wars.
3. The central theme in American history is, going from a very small colony to a very large and powerful nation. The theme is to expand your borders, get bigger and better and don’t let anything stop you.
1. It seems to be that there are two authors that disagree with each other are Thomas Jefferson and George Santayana. Jefferson believes that the future is going to be completely different then the past. He believes that we make up the future as we go along. George Santayana believes that humans have flaws and do not remember their mistakes they are doomed to repeat them.
ReplyDelete2. The statement that comes closest to my beliefs is "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."George Santayana. I believe that if we do not learn from our mistakes that we will make the same mistake all over again. An example, the two stock market crashes. In both people bought a lot of expensive items, and couldn’t pay the money back so they went broke. Another example is World War I and II. Both wars were territorial. Someone wanted to take control over someone else’s land. Also on many occasions when government is unfair a part of it breaks away from the rest of it. Like the Americans from the British and Russians from the Soviet Union.
3. A possible central theme for world history is to learn your history, so you don’t repeat past mistakes. Many examples in history have been repeats of past mistakes. If learn past mistakes, we don’t need to worry about repeating them.
1) The two authors that seem to disagree with each other are Thomas Jefferson and George Santayana. Thomas Jefferson said that “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past“, but George Santayana said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. I feel that they disagree with each other because Thomas Jefferson likes thinking of his dreams for the future instead of thinking about the past. George Santayana on the other hand thinks we should look back in the past so we can’t make the same mistakes twice.
ReplyDelete2) The statement about U.S. history that came closest to me beliefs was George Santayana’s statement,
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. This came close to my beliefs because I also feel we should look back into the past so we don’t make the same mistakes twice. Significant events from American History are World War I, World War II, and the Civil War. In each war thousands, even millions of people died, and many were left injured. It seems that they didn’t learn from the first war how dangerous it can be.
3) The central theme of American History to me is to look back at the past. If you don’t look back at the past there is a greater chance of you making a mistake twice. If you do look back you might not make that mistake again. Mistakes in the past help you in the future.
1)Out of all of the quotes, I find that the quotes of George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson disagree. Thomas Jefferson didn’t exactly care about our history. He was more concerned with about how the future was going to turn out for America. His quote was “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” In other words, he was always looking ahead, never back on events. On the contrary, George said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” He is saying that if we never learn from our mistakes, we are bound to repeat them until we do learn.
ReplyDelete2)The statement about U.S. history that comes closest to my own beliefs is “It was wonderful to find America, but it would have been more wonderful to miss it” by Samuel Langhorne Clemens. I believe he is referring to Columbus, saying it was wonderful that he found America. After all, we have this beautiful land that we have united as one. Still, he says, it might have been more wonderful for Columbus to miss it. If Columbus had NOT found America, then perhaps there would not be so much war! One example is World War l , a completely violent and brutal war over who got certain land and where. Soon after that followed example two, World War ll. And of course, not that soon after that, we all know of the Civil War, where thousands died. Ms. Roman referred to these wars in her chosen quote as well, only I thought differently about the quote for which these events belonged.
3)In my own words, a central theme in American History is that we should be truly thankful for all we have, especially the beautiful land we live on. Samuel Clemens says it would have been more wonderful to miss it, but it was also wonderful to find it. I agree with both statements, and I really do think we should be extremely grateful that we found America. Though there have been wars, I hope that soon we will start learning from our mistakes and actually taking the past into account. America is our home, and we should be proud to have it.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens and John Adams are two authors that seem to disagree with each other. Clemens believes that it was better if we missed America instead of discovering it. However, Adams thinks that America is filled with wonder and reverence. They disagree with each other because Adams thinks highly about America while Clemens doesn't.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Santayana's quote comes closest to my beliefs. He believes that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I believe that we should be educated about the history of our nation so we don't make mistakes by repeating it. Three examples of history repeating itself is World War II, which was a repeat of WW I. Another example is when Hitler invaded Russia in 1941, which was a repeat of Napoleon's invasion in Russia in 1812. Another example is the Vietnam War and the Iraq War.
My central theme of American History would be that if we try hard enough anything is possible. For example, when we were colonies, we fought for our independence from Great Britain and became a powerful country.
The authors who seem to disagree are Thomas Jefferson and George Santayana. These authors disagree because Santayana is preoccupied with the past while Thomas Jefferson seems to think that the future is much more meaningful and more important than the past.
ReplyDeleteI agree most with Thomas Jefferson. I agree that the future is more important than the past because we know what the past was, but who knows about the future? I agree because the future is more mysterious and more frightening than the past or present.
A central theme, to me, could be that anything can happen. To support this idea, I present the American Revolution. As I said before, the future is mysterious and frightening, and the colonists had no idea that their uprising against Britain would be so successful.
Some of these authors do seem to contradict each other . For example “You can't say civilization don't advance... in every war they kill you in a new way”. – Will Rogers and America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags’s its tail, it knocks over a chair. – Arnold Joseph Toynbee. These authors are both talking about America. Will Rogers says that America is killed in new ways showing that Americans do fight in war, as opposed to Arnold Toynbee who thinks Americans are “friendly dogs”. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. – George Santayana is one of the quotes I agree with the most because the quote is pretty much saying you have to learn from your mistakes and by not learning from your mistakes you will have to go through the problem over and over again till “it” has been faced and resolved, this including numerous wars in history started for no reason such as The Vietnam war, Attack on pearl Harbor, The American Civil war and many others. In my own words I would say the central theme of America is to never give up. I chose that theme because in history America has never given up and kept fighting for its rights politically speaking and for slavery and just in general for all rights.
ReplyDelete1) I seems that George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson disagree with each other. George Santayana says “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and Thomas Jefferson says “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. They disagree with each other because George is saying that the people who makes mistakes and don’t fix it, will make the same mistake again. Thomas Jefferson is saying that it is better just to think ahead then looking back into the past.
ReplyDelete2) The statement that comes closest to my beliefs is the one written by George Santayana. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. It means that people who make mistakes and don’t fix them will mostly likely make the same mistake again. Some examples are World War 1, World War 2, and the Civil War. America didn’t learn how dangerous these wars are and it just keeps happening because they didn’t learn.
3) The central theme can be learning from the mistakes you or everyone had done. The reason for doing this is so that you don’t make that mistake ever again in your life.
The two authors that disagree are Thomas Jefferson and George Santayana. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” while Jefferson stated “I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” Santayana and Jefferson are disagreeing in my opinion. Santayana believes that we should learn about the past so we don’t make the same mistake but Jefferson thinks we don’t need to learn about the past but to focus on the dreams of a better future.
ReplyDeleteThe statement that comes closest to my belief is the one George Santayana made. Santayana stated “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In my opinion we have to learn about the past and what wrongs happened so we won’t make those same mistakes or wrongs in the present or future. An example of this is the Civil War because over 620,000 Americans died in this war and if we learned about this we would know how to prevent another one from happening in both present and future.
The central theme of American history is to learn from the mistakes that happen in the past. This is my belief because if we learn this we can prevent anything harmful without using force or violence.
1. George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson seem to disagree with each other. They both had opinions on the past and future. George Santayana said that you should remember the past. While Thomas Jefferson said that you should look foward to the future.
ReplyDelete2. Most of the comments agree with my opinions. One of them, Will Rogers once said " You can't say civilization don't advance.. in every war they kill you in a new way. I do agree with that statment. In every war new tactics are invented, and so are new weapons. Old weapons and tactics are also improved. In every war they still kill but in a new way each time.
3. I think the central theme in American history is to have determination. In the Revolutionary War, we were clearly out numbered. We never gave up and we ended up winning the war. Another theme is to learn from your mistakes.
1. It seems as though of the authors are in disagreement. For example: George Santayana believes that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, while Thomas Jefferson says “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. It seems as though George Santayana believes that the past is important to keep in mind, or else people will be ignorant enough to let it happen again. On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson thinks that American history is so ghastly and atrocious that it’s better to look to the future with a positive attitude rather than dwelling on the past.
ReplyDelete2. Thomas Jefferson’s quote about American history comes closest to my own beliefs. He quotes “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. I also feel the same way about America. Of course, we can never forget history and how it has shaped our country, whether it was through a war or a peace treaty with another country. I agree with Thomas Jefferson. The history of America is so painful and bloody, that maybe it is better to look to the dreams of the future instead of keeping the past fresh in our minds. For example: The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War II. All of these wars were bloody, but America became stronger after them. The Revolutionary war was actually the war that made America, so it is by far the most important.
3. I believe that a central theme of American History is strength and hope. No matter what happens to America, we always get back up on our feet. We are a strong country; the U.S. stands for hope. The people in this country just want to live “The American Dream” and stay strong through thick and thin.
1. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagree with each other. John Adams thinks that America is wonderful and that it illuminates and emancipates, and that it has a glorious past, while Thomas Jefferson would rather forget America’s past and focus on it’s future.
ReplyDelete2. Will Roger’s statement about American history comes closest to my own: “You can’t say civilization don’t advance…in every war they kill you in a new way.” I believe that the United States has a history of nothing but meaningless wars. The Civil War, for example. So many American lives were lost, and so many causalities. How can you expect to beat your enemies when you are fighting amongst your own country? The American economy has gone trough so many ups and downs, because so much money was needed for wars.
3. A central theme in American history is that Americans just go after what they want. They go after what they want, and will demolish anything or anyone in their way; America is a nation of go-getters.
I believe that the quote “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” by Thomas Jefferson and the quote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” by George Santayana differ the most. Although I agree with Santayana’s quote maybe forgetting the past and looking for a brand new future will be better for some, inferring from Jefferson’s quote.
ReplyDelete“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” This quote by Thomas Jefferson came closest to my beliefs about America’s history. I agree with Thomas Jefferson, I think that The United States of America did not have a pleasant history. One can say that it has grown from the blood of people, with all the wars that have taken place. I think that America hasn’t treated the Native Americans right, killing them, stealing from them etc. and the natives only fight back and do the same after the damage the troops of America have done to them and their families. It is also same with the African Americans as their slaves. I believe America’s history was bloody and that we should make the future a brighter and better place.
I believe that the central theme in American history is that the past might be bitter and sad but the future is like a new start, where you can overcome the past.
1) The two people who I think clash are George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson. George Santayana’s quote is “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Thomas Jefferson said “I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. They clash because George Santayana’s quote means that if you don’t look at the mistakes in the past then you will make the same mistake in the future and Thomas Jefferson’s quote means that he doesn’t like to look back into the past but would rather look at the dreams for the future.
ReplyDelete2) George Santayana’s quote comes closest to my beliefs because I believe that you have to learn from the mistakes you made in the past so that you cant make the same mistake again later. Events that support my idea are the civil war, world war1, and world war2. Many lives were lost, people injured, and dying from disease in all three wars.
3) My central theme of America is that if you don’t look back on the mistakes in the past your chance of making the same mistake is high. If you look back to not make the mistake again then you most likely will not make that mistake a second time.
1)It seems that the authors do disagree and oppose with each other. For an example, George Santayana believes that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”; while Thomas Jefferson says “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. Santayana seems to believe that we should remember the past or else people can repeat it. On the other hand, Jefferson seems to believe that the future is more important than the past.
ReplyDelete2)Thomas Jefferson’s quote is the closest to my beliefs. He believes that the future is very important to us and that is true. Our dreams are very important to the world’s future. Even so, we still cannot forget the past because the past was what made present and without the present, there is no future. I believe that our future is important, but it doesn’t mean that we should forget about the past.
3)I believe the central theme for America is unity and hope. I believe a country must have these two things, unity and strength. Without unity, America can never stand. Without hope, there is no future or dreams for America. The dreams of America is what made America.
1. The two authors that disagree are Samuel Longhorne and John Adams. Samuel Longhorne believes that America is a great place, but it would have been better if it was not discovered. John Adams believes that the settlement of America was filled with reverence and wonder. They have different beliefs on the discovery of America. Samuel Longhorne thinks that it would have been better if America was not discovered. John Adams thinks that America is a great place and the discovery was an amazing achievement.
ReplyDelete2. The statements of American history that comes closest to my beliefs is “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. I agree with this statement because if you remember mistakes that happen in the past will not be repeated in the future in the future. I believe it is not necessary to repeat a mistake that already occurred. An example of not remembering a mistake that happen in the past is World War I and World War II. These two war happened within twenty years of each other.
3. I believe that the central theme of American history is no matter what political party the president is in, America is always the same. I believe this because America will always have the same values and indepenedence as when it was founded in 1776. Even through forty four presidents America is the same country.
1.I think that the authors that disagree with one another are George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson. George says that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and Thomas says that “I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. I believe that they disagree because George believes that you might want to remember the past wars and battles so that when you are in one in the future you do not make the same mistake over again. I think Thomas believes that looking toward the future is better than remembering the past. They disagree because George thinks that you should remember the past and Thomas prefers to dream about the future.
ReplyDelete2. The statement that comes closest to my own belief is “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. This quote matches my beliefs because if we just forget our mistake from a previous battle we could make it again because we were too lazy to look back. One event from American History is the Civil War. This was the biggest war in our entire history. This war lasted for four years and killed about 600,000 American soldiers. The economy was horrible. The second event from American History I chose was slavery. It was a horrible time period for blacks because they were slaves working for the “White Man”. Many people died of being beaten, and whipped. Thanks to abolitionists slavery came to an end. The third event in American history is the Indian removal called the Trail of Tears. This was extremely harsh to the Indians when Jackson put the Indians through all of that torture to move them west. Many Indians died and lost their families because of the weather or diseases.
3. A central theme in American History is to learn from our mistakes in our past history and not repeat them in future wars. Another theme is that men and women are all created equal no matter what nationality. The last theme is to always remember the past. It can be used for knowledge Women have all the rights as men so they should be treated equal.
1.The authors that appear to disagree with each other are George Santayana and Thomas Jefferson. George says that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and Thomas says that “I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past”. Santayana believes that we should learn about the past so we don’t make the same mistake but Jefferson thinks we don’t need to learn about the past but to focus on the dreams of a better future.
ReplyDelete2.The statement that comes closest to my beliefs is "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."George Santayana. I believe that if we do not learn from our mistakes that we will make the same mistake all over again. An example, the two stock market crashes. In both people bought a lot of expensive items, and couldn’t pay the money back so they went broke. Another example is World War I and II. Both wars were territorial. Someone wanted to take control over someone else’s land. The last example of an event to this quote is The Civil War. It was a very terrible war and quite very long and big. After the war one question remained “How could the United States be united once more”. By dreaming on to the future and not remembering the past, this type of war can occur again
3. A central theme in American History is to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them in the future. Another theme is to always remember the past. It can be used for knowledge and wisdom in the future.
Mr. Rose said that the quote “You can't say civilization don't advance.. in every war they kill you in a new way” by Will Rogers came closest to his beliefs. I thought that his idea of how it kills you in a new way was understandable, with the new weapons. I agreed with his belief about the quote, but not the central theme in American history. I agree that America has determination but America doesn’t always learn from her mistakes. Don’t you think every new war America had had is a mistake after the other? America has had tons of wars that would be like making a mistake and never learning from it.
ReplyDelete