Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
CH 203: American Experiences & Constitutional Change, Success of…
CH 203: American Experiences & Constitutional Change
Success
- A Self-Defined Term
Costica Bradatan
"
It's not success but failure - the savage fear of it - that lies at the heart of the America Dream
" from his essay "I Know What Savage Fear Really Lies at the Heart of the American Dream" (2023)
Bradatan discusses how he has known failure his whole life and has grown to fear it; therefore driving him to succeed - yet another personal definition of success.
He also believes this fear is what drives most Americans to succeed (not a bad take).
Different ideas of success from two public figures that both came from nothing.
I Know What Savage Fear Really Lies at the Heart of the American Dream
Marco Rubio
"
But I have a debt to America I must try to repay. This isn't just the country where I was born; America is the place that changed my family's history
" from his Campaign Announcement (2015)
Self made success - his family immigrated and grew successful therefore allowing his career as a politician later in life
Marco Rubio's Campaign Announcement (2015)
The meaning of success - what it is and how it is achieved - is subjective to any and every person based on the experiences in their life.
Christianity
& it's Influences
John Winthrop
"
GOD ALMIGHTY in his most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in submission
" from A Model of Christian Charity (1630)
A Model of Christian Charity
Salem Witch Trials & Female Prosecution
(literally just sexism)
They would have HATED her
Cotton Mather
"
Wherefore The devil is now making one Attempt more upon us; an Attempt more Difficult, more Surprizing, more snarl’d with unintelligible Circumstances than any that we have hitherto Encountered
" from The Tryals of Several Witches (1693
Jonathan Edwards
"
They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God’s using his power at any moment to destroy them.
" from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)
Puritans
- A branch of Christianity focused on abolishing too much wealth in the hands of only a few people
They believed hard work and commonwealth were the bases on which one should live their life
"
City on a Hill
" the idea that they are the ideal people and all others should look up to them and learn from them because they have been chosen by God. (basically ludicrous)
Covenant With God
- "
Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a commission. The Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles
" -
John Winthrop
Mary Rowlandson
"
Yet the Lord still shewed mercy to me, and helped me; and as he wounded me with one hand, so he healed me with the other.
" from The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1682)
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God
Enlightenment
& Change in America
With the creation of the
Constitution
and the
Declaration of Independence
came more rights and freedoms to the oppressed groups of people in America (mainly women and African Americans).
13th Amendment
: Abolition of slavery.
The Constitution (Ratified 1788)
15th & 19th Amendments
: Voting rights for women and POC
New ways of thinking and new systems began arising in America.
Science
and
rational thinking
were seen as more important as religion began to fall off.
Thomas Paine
"
In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense
" from Common Sense (1775)
Common Sense
Along with the desire for independence...
Benjamin Franklin
"
He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.
" The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1790)
Benjamin Franklin is one of the most renowned thinkers and inventors of American history. He is known for inventing the bifocals as well as the lightning rod and also for his thoughts and studies of what is morally correct.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Negative Effects of
"Gender Roles"
Gender norms began settling in as males & females were forced to take on roles and duties that were "fit for a man/woman". Women were mostly made to stay at home, clean, cook, and raise the children while men worked to support their families. No substitutions.
We are still facing repercussions of this flawed thought process in the modern day.
Betty Friedan
"
Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night - she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question - 'Is this all?'
" from The Problem That Has No Name (1963)
The Problem That Has No Name
Teddy Roosevelt
"
He must not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, a shirk, or a prig. He must work hard and play hard. He must be clean-minded and clean-lived, and able to hold his own under all circumstances and against all comers. It is only on these conditions that he will grow into the kind of American man of whom America can be really proud.
" from The American Boy (1900)
The American Boy
Roosevelt's ideas of what an ideal man is are the foundations of toxic masculinity and insecurity that we still see in the male gender today.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"
If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?
" from The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)
The Yellow Wallpaper
The treatment of women's mental health was drastically different in comparison to men's treatment and was extremely harsh, often driving them to be actually insane when they never were before.
Corporations & Corruption
As corporations began establishing themselves in America, wealth gaps began occurring as well as corruption within the wealthy.
Jacob Riis
"
Nothing is now better understood than that the rescue of the children is the key to the problem of city poverty
" from How the Other Half Lives (1890)
How the Other Half Lives
As the wealth gap grew, few became extremely rich while many sank into poverty, never to make it out.
Andrew Carnegie
"
The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship.
" from The Gospel of Wealth (1889)
The Gospel of Wealth
As the rich separated themselves from the poor, certain public figures branched out so they could control many parts of society
"
Convinced that “bankers” and “the Jews” were responsible for a whole range of things he didn’t like, from the world war to short skirts to jazz music, Ford used his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, to carry on an active anti-Semitic campaign.
" from Henry Ford and Anti-Semitism: A Complex Story
Henry Ford and Anti-Semitism: A Complex Story
Frederick Winslow Taylor
"
Under scientific management the “initiative” of the workmen (that is, their hard work, their good will, and their ingenuity) is obtained with absolute uniformity and to a greater extent than is possible under the old system
" from The Principles of Scientific Management (1910)
The Principles of SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
The ideas of how the workplace should look and function began changing as companies required different things and began rapidly expanding.
Success of American Minorities
Frederick Douglass
"
I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom
" from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
Frederick Douglass, much like Phillis Wheatley, was a former slave that published an autobiography. He wrote about his experiences as a slave and shared his story. His book grew increasingly popular.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Phillis Wheatley was a former slave that grew very successful through her poetry. She was an extremely talented writer and used metaphors to discuss the racial inequality in America. In other words, she slayed.
Phillis Wheatley
"
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace The land of freedom's heaven-defended race! Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales
" from To His Excellency, George Washington (1775)
To His Excellency, George Washington
Booker T. Washington
"
One-third of the population of the South is of the Negro race. No enterprise seeking the material, civil, or moral welfare of this section can disregard this element of our population and reach the highest success.
" from The Atlanta Compromise (1895)
The Atlanta Compromise
W.E.B. Du Bois
"
Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.
" from The Talented Tenth (1903)
The Talented Tenth
Martin Luther King Jr.
"
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification and direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham
" from Letter From Birmingham Jail (1963)
Letter From Birmingham Jail
The Tryals of Several Witches
The Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson at the Court at Newton (1637)
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
