Salutations!
For my Roots and History of American Liberty Course run by Hillsdale College, I was required to write four essays about the various topics that I had learned about in the lectures while attending the course. I could choose any four out of the fourteen prompts and write a response. I wanted to share them with you because they all have very interesting information on the topics that I wrote about. I hope you find them interesting and hopefully I did not write them so they are boring, like some history books are. Anyway, enjoy!
America’s Foreign Policy: How it changed through the ages
Prompt: #12
By: Joshua Burke
Foreign policy has always been a major issue for America. It has shaped how America carries out domestic and foreign affairs, and whether she goes to war or not. The first president to shape our foreign policy was George Washington in his Farewell Address.
After eight years of being president, George Washington was ready to retire. He gave his Farewell Address on September 19th, 1796, near the end of his second term. Washington knew that all Americans considered him as a great hero of America, and what he would say in his Farewell Address would affect the country greatly.
In his Farewell Address, Washington made it very clear that we need to stay out of foreign affairs and wars, especially Europe’s. He also made clear the dangers of permanent alliances between America and other foreign countries. Washington also stated that we should conduct foreign policy the same way we conduct domestic policy, which is in a fair and good-willed way. Overall, George Washington’s Farewell Address effectively put America into a state of isolationism and a stance of neutrality in most foreign conflicts.
This relative stance of isolationism was destroyed in the twentieth century when the United States entered Word War 1 in 1917. World War 1 was the first real foreign war that the United States actively fought in and was a major contributor. When the Allies won the war, the Treaty of Versailles created the League of Nations in 1919. The League of Nations was an organization made up of many countries and their goal was to promote international cooperation and achieve international peace and security. The United States however, did not join because the Senate did not ratify America becoming part of it.
With the United States not joining the League of Nations, the United States fell back into a state of isolationism. For the 20’s and 30’s the United States enjoyed peace, but this was soon to end for another World War was to come to her doorstep.
Three dangerous dictatorships had formed after World War 1 around the world and were content with taking over sections of the world. They were Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italy, Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich in Germany, and the Empire of Japan led by Hideki Tojo. Together they formed the Tripartite Pact in 1940 and ultimately became the Axis powers. Despite Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, Japan’s invasion of China, and Germany starting World War 2 by taking over Poland, America wanted nothing to do with foreign wars. Huge groups in America, such as the America First Committee, opposed America entering another foreign war that had nothing to do with the United States.
However, when the Empire of Japan carried out a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941, it brought America into World War 2. After America and her allies won the war, America now could never return to the policy of isolationism. America, whether she liked it or not, was a world super power and the world order maker.
When World War 2 ended, a new enemy rose up. The communist Soviet Union and her satellites were the new threat to the Untied States and democracy. In retaliation to the Soviets, the Unites States took up a new foreign policy. It was called containment. It stated that if the United States would contain the Soviets and other communist nations and keep them from expanding, eventually they would cease to exist.
Two examples of containment being carried out are in Korea (the Korean War) and Vietnam (the Vietnam War). However, after America’s disastrous defeat in Vietnam, the United States changed its foreign policy to détente. Détente is a French word that literally means ‘loosening, or relaxation.’ Under détente America started easing hostilities with the Soviets and acknowledged them as a legitimate regime.
However, under President Ronald Regan’s peace through strength policy, the United States rebuilt its military in the 1980’s. President Reagan rose military spending by 50 percent to out-produce the Soviets in military might. The Soviets then tried to out-produce America in military might, but the communist Soviet economy couldn't do it and lost the arms race. This, along with repression and economic failure that the Soviets endured, led to the fall of the Soviet Union. It formally dissolved in 1991.
Today, the United States is one of the major world powers and the world order maker. America now trades with countries in all parts of the world, is one of the head nations in the United Nations, and has fought many, many conflicts around the globe. America has come along way in foreign policy from what Washington recommended in his Farewell Address in 1796.
Slavery in America: The rise of it, the anti-slavery movement, and the South’s retaliation.
Prompt: #8
By: Joshua Burke
Slavery was a fundamental aspect to America’s economy starting in 1619, when about 19 Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. Since then, slavery was widely accepted in the colonies and it was one of the main drivers of the early American economy, especially in the South. Although in the 19th century, the North had, for the most part, abolished slavery and anti-slavery movements began to spring up.
When the British still controlled America, which was then known as the thirteen colonies, slavery was legal and existed in every colony. There was a high demand for slaves in the colonies because cheep labor was needed by the colonists for various jobs that they needed preformed.
The South had developed an agricultural economy that was dependent on crops such as tobacco, rice, and cotton. Slaves were a cheep source of labor for harvesting these crops, and that is why they were so important to the agricultural South’s survival and economy. The jobs that slaves did in the South differ from what slaves did in the North. Slaves in the North mostly worked as servants, laborers, and even craftsmen.
But after the 13 colonies fought for the independence from the British Empire and won, Northern States gradually got rid of slavery through various laws. One law that was used to carry out gradual abolition was to ban new slaves from entering the state. This effectively made sure that slave owners couldn’t get new slaves. Another law was that children born in slavery in the specific state were now free. This made sure that the slave owners couldn’t make the offspring of their adult slaves into slaves. These two laws, along with others, gradually got rid of slavery. However, adult slaves were still considered property and therefore couldn’t be freed. Freeing slaves were taking away people’s property, and that was unconstitutional.
The South however, did not abolish slavery, or even try to halt it. This is because the South was built on agriculture, and slavery was needed to keep the agricultural economy alive.
Starting the 19thcentury, the anti-slavery movement started to take place. One of the first examples of this movement was the founding of the American Colonization Society in 1816. They believed that slavery was at odds with natural laws and natural rights. Their way of getting rid of slavery was to send all freed slaves back to Africa. They would get funds from citizens and then use those funds to buy slaves from their owners. They then sent the now freed slaves to Africa, so that they could make a living. Many freed slaves though did not want to go back to Africa; America was now their new home.
Another move for the anti-slavery movement was by a man named William Lloyd Garrison. In 1831, William wrote the newspaper the Liberator, which called for all slaves to be freed immediately. Not surprisingly, the pro-slavery South reacted harshly to this newspaper and others like it. The South began a massive propaganda campaign to make slavery sound good and Southern legislators banned any kind of abolitionist writing. Despite these retaliations, more abolitionist newspapers sprung up in the 19th century like the North Star and The Philanthropist.
When America was still the thirteen colonies, slavery existed in ever colony. But after we got our independence, the fight over whether slavery should or shouldn’t be allowed would heat up through the decades. The North advocated for the destruction of it while the South wanted to keep slavery alive. Both sides would have strong arguments to why they believed the way that they did, but eventually, the issue of slavery would be decided in a Civil War.
The Causes of the Civil War
Prompt: #9
By: Joshua Burke
The Civil War was the bloodiest war in U.S. history. 705,000 – 900,000 Americans lost their lives in the 4-year war. The cause of this bloodthirsty conflict can be traced back to the issue of slavery in Federal territory.
In the early to mid 1800’s, slavery was one of the main issues in American life and politics. By this time, slavery had been mostly abolished in the North, but it was thriving in the South. On the issue of slavery within each and every state, most people agreed that the individual state could decide whether they wanted slavery or not. However, as the United States was spreading west, one big question came up. What should be done with slavery in the Federal territories?
The pro-slavery South argued that federal territory should allow slavery. They believed Federal land was everyone’s land and everyone should be allowed to bring their property into it. In their opinion, slaves were considered property, not people, and therefore banning people’s property from federal land was unconstitutional.
In contrast, the anti-slavery North argued to ban slavery in the new Federal land. The North used the Northwest Ordinance as an example to back up their argument, which prohibited slavery in the new organized territory of the Northwest Territory. The Northerners also used Article 4, section 3 in the Constitution to back up their argument. It states, “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so constructed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.” This empowers Congress to make laws that they deem necessary in federal land. The North believed Congress should use this power to abolish slavery in new federal territory.
Both sides had very strong arguments for their point of view on the issue of slavery in Federal Territory, and finally a compromise was reached. The Missouri Compromise was a federal law invented by Henry Clay and passed in 1820. In the former Louisiana territory, it prohibited slavery north of parallel 36°30′ north while allowing slavery south of it. The Missouri Compromise also allowed slavery in the proposed state of Missouri. Both pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups agreed on it.
Then Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as yet another compromise. It stated that all escaped slaves, upon capture, must be returned to their masters, and that citizens and officials of free states must cooperate with this law. This dug the divide even deeper between the North and the South.
Stephen A. Douglas, a Democratic senator from Illinois, came up with another solution to the problem of slavery in Federal Territory that he thought was better then the Missouri Compromise. He came up with the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It also set up popular self-government and let the people of the territory decide if they want to allow or banish slavery in their territory. In itself, the act actually nullified the Missouri Compromise.
Even though it sounded like a good idea, in reality it divided the nation and led it toward a civil war. It resulted in thousands of both pro-slavery citizens from the South and anti-slavery citizens from the North flooding to Kansas to try to make it a slave state and free state respectively. This resulted in the so-called “Bleeding Kansas” where pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces clashed in violence. This was just a taste of what was to come.
The Fugitive Slave Laws caused the number of abolitionists to increase in the North and for many Northern states to pass Personal Liberty Laws, which protected anyone who was a runaway slave. They required that runaway slaves must have a trial by jury, and couldn’t just be returned to their suspected masters without a trial.
By 1861, the South had enough with the North and their anti-slavery, anti-state rights laws. They said that the Northern States had violated the Fugitive Slave Laws and have not abided to the Constitution. On these terms, throughout 1861 eleven Southern states succeeded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. The Civil War had begun.
These developments that I listed make me believe that the Civil War was caused because of state’s rights on the issue of slavery. Slavery was such a deep, controversial topic that it eventually divided the nation, and caused a war.
Prompt: #10
By: Joshua Burke
The progressive movement was a political movement that was formed to address the economic and political problems of the late 19th century. The objectives of the progressive movement was to eliminate political corruption within the government, address the economic problems of the late 19th century, to regulate monopolies and corporations through antitrust laws, to pass prohibition in the United States, and to pass woman’s suffrage. The progressives thought that the Constitution was a living and breathing constitution. They thought that the living and breathing Constitution must change rapidly to meet the needs of the current society, and they used this theory to empower the government and to complete many of their objectives.
The progressive movement began in 1896. The people who were the base of the progressive movement were Southern farmers and other groups of people who were unhappy with the current stance of the economy. Millions of immigrants had been coming over to America because of the opportunity of prosperity that America had. This had raised wages for everyone along with the standard of living. Both the rich and the poor were improving, but the rich were improving faster and better then the poor. This created a growing inequality and a feeling of envy towards the rich.
Along with the growing inequality, there were many booms and busts in the economy and there was a lot of uncertainty. Many people were worried about these booms and busts and wanted the federal government to step in and “smooth” them out. Armed with the troubles of the economic and political problems, the progressives were ready to make the changes that they deemed necessary to society. The Progressive Era had begun.
Besides from the economic problems, the progressives were worried about political corruption, and wanted to eliminate it. They moved to eliminate political machines and the bosses leading them. The progressives believed that by eliminating the political machines and their bosses, they could ensure a better democracy for the people.
Another one of the progressive’s main goals was to regulate monopolies and corporations through antitrust laws. The progressives wanted to maintain fair competition within the business world, and saw corporations that monopolized certain parts of the marketplace as destroying fair competition. Huge corporations and monopolies such as the Standard Oil Company were sought after by progressives to be broken up. Trust busting did succeed in breaking up some of the biggest trusts in the world, and it also gave the federal government increased power through anti-trust laws such as the Clayton Act of 1914.
Two other movements that the progressives wanted to see passed into law were Prohibition and woman’s suffrage. These were both made into amendments with the 18th amendment, which banned the manufacturing or sale of alcohol, and the 19thamendment, which prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex. Other amendments that the progressives passed were the 16th amendment, which allowed an income tax, and the 17thamendment, which established the direct election of Senators by popular vote. All of these amendments listed were progressive-backed amendments that fundamentally changed America forever.
The progressives carried out new, revolutionary reform movements to the American society. The progressives did many things from breaking up powerful trusts to passing prohibition, and made the federal government much more powerful. The Progressive Era would finally end in the 1920’s, but it would restart again under a new form with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.
These are my four essays, if you have any questions about my information, shoot me an email at joshua@svseaglass.com
Thanks!
