...Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) Andrew Walsh The American dream has been around long before that term was coined. Alexander Hamilton is proof of it, as well as all migrants who came to the colonies to populate this New World. Most had nothing, or very little as Alexander, but from hardships and squalor some of our nation’s greatest men were formed. These hardships taught lessons of self-reliance, forged ideologies, and paved the way for those opportunistic enough to take this new country and lead it. Alexander Hamilton came from a very tumultuous childhood. His legitimacy as a child always haunting him. His mother dying, father leaving, all family ties gone. Mr. Hamilton had to grow up quick and he did. He grew up and moved to the states. He...
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...Kelsey Wible Mr. Stoner APUSH August 19 2014 Founding Brothers "Founding Brothers" by Joseph Ellis is a non-fiction book that analyzes several important events in America among the nation's founding fathers, that take place after the Revolutionary War. The author goes into detail chronologically describing how these events shaped the history of the United States. Joseph Ellis is an American historian and professor. He specializes in American history, and more specifically the founding fathers of America. Ellis has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Yale University. He has written several biographies about the founders of America, including Adams, Jefferson and Washington. His book about Jefferson titled, "American Sphinx: The...
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...Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson are two of the most important and influential people in our country's history. Alexander Hamilton grew up on the island of St. Croix, but later moved to New York. He became well known and got involved with New York politics. The way Thomas Jefferson grew up is completely different to the way Hamilton did, that is very similar to their political view and how they always had opposing opinions on everything. Thomas Jefferson was born into a rich and respected family. His start in politics was in Virginia which was his home state. During their time served on Washington’s Cabinet they were faced with many issues such as the ideal economy and the best form of government, two topics where their opinions strongly...
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...History 131 Janet Covert Alexander Hamilton Research Paper Rachelle Sorensen-Cox November 26, 2012 Alexander Hamilton was one of the men who built this country. What began simply as the published views and beliefs of Alexander Hamilton, became the doctrinal basis for one of the national, political parties Americans have subscribed to for over 200 years. Hamiltonians would today, be best be described as Democrats. Hamilton was a diverse leader, with a diverse skill set he excelled at both writing and finance. Disciplines’ that would serve him well. Our nation’s economic system was in part created by Alexander Hamilton. This achievement earned him a rightful spot on our country’s currency. A talented student and writer, Hamiton’s speeches, letters, pamphlets, essays and reports included regular contributions to The Federalist. He also keep good company, Alexander Hamilton had an impressive resume of friends and enemies. A long list of leaders, scholars and brethren such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin is the same list of men that are Alexander Hamilton’s peers. It has been said that “you are the company you keep” and it has also been said that Alexander Hamilton kept good company. As part of the original cast of characters that created this country, Hamilton’s remains one of the less well known stories, and one of the most essential ones. Hamilton’s input became some of the doctrine the American political system was created by. (Freeman)...
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...The Constitutional Convention was one of the most important meetings of the most intellectual men this country had to offer. The Collier Brothers’ provide the reader with the main thesis of the book why was this book written and what point of view the reader will receive after reading this book. Collier writes the book for the reader to feel how it felt like to be in that crowded room during that hot summer of 1787. Collier shows countless characters of the country’s history like the breathtaking George Washington to the lady’s man Ben Franklin and all the way to the most compelling character of Alexander Hamilton and several other important founding fathers. Collier provides the reader with 363 pages oozing with enormous amounts of American History and feels the reader with tons of knowledge of the Constitutional Convention that they never knew that they could...
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...question of "name at least three founding fathers of The United States," we could easily come up with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, or Alexander Hamilton. Now if that same survey asked instead "name one defining characteristic of these founding fathers," or "describe in your own words the significance of these individuals," we would get various responses. Despite the randomness of answers we would receive on such a survey, a common consensus could be reached about America's Founding Fathers, that is these individuals were great figures in our nation's history. The role they played in the 18th century to establish the basis for a nation that would continue to grow for centuries was significant....
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...for the great Alexander Hamilton. Not believing that he could live past twenty, this man went on to accomplish many great things and convince New Yorkers to agree to ratify the U.S. Constitution. The brilliant work of Hamilton was displayed through the masterful musical "Hamilton" created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. As Niccoló Machiavelli claims, a politician's success relies on two factors; his own abilities or skills and his external circumstances. These hold true for what led Alexander Hamilton to successes. "By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter" (Alexander Hamilton, Miranda). The trading charter involved dealing with associations formed by investors...
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...James Madison (1751-1863) is one of the nation's key founding fathers is a notable man in America history that is known to be the “Father of the Constitution” also served two terms as America's forth President. James Madison was born on March 16,1751 at Belle Grove Plantation in Virginia. He attended Princeton University. In 1780, James Madison became the youngest member of the continent congress and was instrumental in arranging the 1787 national convention to write a constitution for the new nation. James Madison came up with this idea known as the Virginia Plan before the Continent Congress meeting began. (Ketcham, Ralph) The Virginia Plan was a system for bicameral legislature which gave representation on population in the House of Representatives and to the states in the senate....
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Complete each section below. Include citations for your sources. |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta |Magna Carta is a document that King John of England was forced |Magna Carta served to lay the foundation for the evolution of parliamentary clause | | |into signing. The document was a succession of written promises|of the United States Constitution and enforced by the Supreme Court. | | |made between the king and his subjects that he would govern | | | |England and its people in accordance with the customs of feudal| | | |law. ("History Learning Site ", 2000-2013). | | |Mayflower Compact |Mayflower Compact is one if the first governing document of |The Mayflower Compact called for equality amongst people and...
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...Daniel Shays led a typical life of a man in the 1770-80’s. He grew up on a farm, when he was of age he enlisted in the army, and after the war all he wanted was to start a family. He soon realized that this would be difficult for him and many others like himself. It came to his and many other veterans attention that “…a new form of homegrown tyranny was quickly replacing the old British one.”(P.31) With taxes rising and crop prices decreasing, farmers made little to no money. This caused protests to break out with farmers and veterans leading them. The government was losing control of the people and they were scared. Daniel Shays led many rebellions and got attention from the Founding Fathers that would eventually lead to the creation of our nation's Constitution. Despite the fact that the English lost the war, the trading system that was in place worked in a way that London ended up getting American workers money. This system crashed after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. With the British demanding money from American merchants, the merchants pressured those in debt to them for money, the debtors turned to small businesses who owed them money. The small businesses had nowhere to turn from...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Complete each section below. Include citations for your sources. |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta |Written in 1215, the document was a series of written promises |The magna carta served as the first piece of legislature attempting to keep the | | |that the King would rule England and deal with the people |rights for the people fair. The Americans saw it and read about it and decided it | | |fairly according to feudal law. It was an attempt by the barons|was time America had “higher law” ideas and design a document to give the people | | |to stop the king from becoming an oppressor more than a ruler. |rights and to protect them from oppression, such as the people during the time of | | | |the magna carta were suffering. | |Mayflower Compact |The mayflower compact served as the document needed to keep the|Much like the magna carta, the mayflower compact was put into...
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...1780’s everyone thought that it was only natural that America verge away from British rule. They all figured that it would be a gradual change; not a full blown revolution. Throughout the chapter, Ellis puts great emphasis on the many things that could have gone wrong during the revolution. He points all these negative events and set backs that he felt could easily have brought the developing America down to show just how great of an accomplishment the revolution was. The Founding Fathers were not completely oblivious to the severity of breaking away from Great Britain. Tom Pain states that, “it is only common sense that an island can not rule a continent (pg.3).” Many assumed that it was only natural that the thirteen colonies govern themselves. They figured that it would be a peaceful break such as the gaining of independence for Ghana or Canada. It was not until later on that the colonies realized that Britain would not easily hand over the land. What I find interesting is that only the Founding Fathers seemed to realize the great events taking place during their time. John Adams even instructed his wife to file and keep all of his records. It is as if he knew that hundreds of years from then, we the future Americans would look back at his notes and recognize his greatness. This makes me wonder why they were so sure of themselves. The Americans were at a disadvantage during the beginning of the war. How was it that they seem so certain that the war would end up in their...
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...generally accept that as a country, America was founded on religions principals. Many of the writings of the founding fathers, including our own Declaration of Independence, include religious doctrine as not only the partial justification for our separation from mother England but also as a part of the vision of how our new nation would be successful. Over time, our society and culture have changed so that today, even though people claim to be religious, religion is certainly not as main stream in our culture as it once was. By better understanding our society in colonial America, how the denominational makeup of churchgoers has changed, how our legal system has both protected and not protected religion’s presence in our daily lives, the influence of different organizations and social movements on religious practices and perceptions, the change in how Christians are perceived and finally the changes in the message that the church is preaching the reader will be able to understand not only how America has changed but also how contemporary Christian leaders and organizations are trying to remain relevant and consistent with God’s word. Colonial America & Our Founding Fathers From the settling of our nation to the Revolutionary War, religion was much more a part of mainstream society. The pervasive nature of religion had an impact on those who led the fight for our freedom. The period of history leading up to the Revolutionary War is commonly referred to as the Great Awakening...
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... Henry Howard is the deputy director of magazine operations for The American Legion magazine. His article “ A Case for Civility,” in the February 2013 American Legion magazine, Mr. Howard states that the American political culture has become “reek with incivility.” He uses various examples of officials like former senator Richard Lugar, former president Ronald Regan, former Speaker of the House, former senator Tip O’Neil and former senator Gabrielle Gifford, as an example of cooperative forces. Mr. Howard continues that many opportunities were taken to handle the nation’s various programs and legislation in an effectively cooperative way, and the collective tragedy of when issues are out control. Mr. Howard states that with the Internet, advertising, and news media, dirty laundry grabs the public’s attention and creates a segmented society. This creates an ineffective and difficult transfer of power in our political system. To reinforce his argument, the author uses a compilation of George Washington’s views from “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation,” which is 110 observations made by the first American president. These observations point to operating daily with more candor and contain confrontation. In Henry Howard’s article in American Legion magazine, “A Case for Civility,” has a caption that says, “Today’s partisan rancor is nothing new. However, it is getting worse, as seen on the campaign trail, talk shows and Internet...
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...than a decade later an uprising led by Daniel Shays, a former revolutionary, arose when the people became discontent with the current conditions the country was in and blamed their dissatisfaction on the government. (Curtis) These farmers were in poor and in debt, and although the rebellion was swiftly crushed, it demonstrated how powerless the government really was and proved that imperative action was necessary to rectify the issues that were currently afflicting the young nation. The fact that the Articles of Confederation failed was actually a positive outcome, since it was held in place for 10 years it served as a good guideline for what was needed. It was a big risk since they had no idea if it was going to work out, but the founding fathers then went forward to draft a constitution that has served as the law for the last 200 years. This new constitution made the federal government much more powerful yet still promised to uphold the rights of the people to prevent exploitation by their government. In this constitution is included a “Bill of Rights,” ten amendments that...
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