Example Of Reshaping America Essay

Question 1

In Miss Columbia’s School House, there are various perceptions of ‘others’ as reflected in the cartoon drawing. The perceptions have depicted the school as being unable to control its quarrelsome charges. Additionally, the African Americans in the cartoon have been represented as small individuals who still use crude weapons. Initially the Hawaii’s had power over their northern counterparts. However times are changing and there is need change. The representations Americans as anarchists, socialists and violent are just the perceptions of the writer. Aguinaldo’s criticism of America’s policies in towards the Philippine is echoed in the political cartoon through the use of imagery. The cartoon has some Americans holding a socialist flag. There is total anarchy in the background of the school depicting the turmoil in American politics at the time. Additionally, the different policies at the time only benefited the Americans, and the other tribes and nationalities were treated unfairly as is the case with the Chinese on the right-hand side of the picture cartoon. These two documents suggest that the Americans who had conquered the populations could use the conquered populations for their own benefit. Additionally, the two documents provide a rough representation of how the minorities were treated. There is, however, an engulfing factor that is the white lady with a large bosom. Her representation means that although the country is under severe turmoil, she in some way still represents a glimmer of hope in terms of consolidation of the different states and the administration of the internal United States colonies that is represented by the school. The fact that the huge lady represents the individuals who are in charge of the nation. The legitimate agents of the nation are thus white.

Question 2

President Eisenhower draws some relationships between the events in the modern Civil Rights Movement and the goals of the United Nations in waging the cold war in that the president saw them as a means to destabilize the governments. The relationship between the two events was that it was the responsibility of the national government to ensure that there were peace and calm in the nation. The two events provided an opportunity for anarchists to prosper. The president then had to come up with strategies to minimize the impacts of the two events. The Alcatraz Proclamation and “The Soiling of Old Glory” photograph reflect the increasing radicalization in that the Alcatraz Proclamation was enabled as the native Indians had begun taking over parts of the nation. The civil rights movements on the other hand were continuously getting radicalized as they did no longer respect the flag of the United States. The flag is supposed to be held in an upright manner, and when the Civil Rights movement were demonstrating, they wielded the flag in all manner of ways. Additionally, “The Soiling of Old Glory” photograph depicts the gruesome and heated race relations amongst the America populations. The picture captures a black American, who has been trapped by white teenagers who were against the civil rights movements as at the time the black generation of the American people were responsible for the civil rights movements. The black generation in the American society felt that they were a target of the rowdy white teenagers. Based on Eisenhower’s speech, the response that one could make based on document 4 and document 5 is that the events provide a similar situation that destabilizes the countries such as the United States. The Cold War and the “The Soiling of Old Glory” photograph document represent a condition that is favorable for the cold war to thrive as Cold War thrives through the destabilization of the host country.

Question 3

According to President Reagan, having a positive view of American history can be viewed from several perspectives. In the beginning, the president associated with the American moral values that are based on Christianity. Having a positive view means that all the Americans should be in a position to defend the nation from other morals and ruling strategies such as communism. The morals of the Americans should be used as a platform for its rulings for a peaceful America. The citizens according to the president should use their military strength, the economic strength, and the industrial strength to enable them overcome their enemies during times of danger. Through the Christian nature and the prayers of the Christians, the prayers that the Christians make and believe in them keep alive and nourish the concerns for others and this is the greatest hope for mankind. In regards to the race relations, modern Americans should think of the steps that they have made in integrating all the races. In the past, it was almost impossible to believe that a black individual could one day become the president of the United States. These documents provide a glimpse of how Americas past was run politically and the various reforms that have been made in order to achieve equality among the different races and minority groups. This is because there have been various changes such as the civil rights movements that even though had been opposed, their objectives were achieved. There have however in the recent times the development of racism and the growth of Islam that at one point did not influence the American population.

Question 4

America’s past continues to influence the American society and modern debates on the issues of inequality in that the problem continues to persist even after there have been various reforms to solve the problem. The divide in the American past used to be between the blacks and the white community however currently there are many other communities that have emigrated from Asia the Caribbean and other parts of the world such as Latin America. In terms of morals, the different immigrants from the different parts of the world have had some influence on the American morals such as the increase in numbers of the Muslim populations. The domestic terrorism has seen a shift in the morals of the American society. There is also a continuous bias for the immigrants from the Muslim populations. The issue of illegal immigration is also rampant. The past efforts to confront and resolve issues of inequality has empowered the Americans with a moral authority to dictate world affairs today in that the Americans have learnt from experience that all individuals who are Americans have the right to be treated the same. Additionally, the individuals who have struggled in the past with the need to deal with the issues of inequality have had the first experience of its impacts and that they know how one feels when they are on the other side or on the receiving end of the issue of inequality.

Works cited

Townsend, Camilla. American Indian History: A Documentary Reader. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Ward, Brian. The 1960s: A Documentary Reader. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.