US History (General)

There are many similarities between the 1960s and the present day. Perhaps a good way to look at these commonalities is to look at the aftermath of that turbulent decade, which partly explains how...

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the Founding Fathers as well as an author, printer, and scientist, invented bifocals because he suffered from presbyopia, a condition that means "age of sight"...

Another, more basic, reason is that Ben Franklin founded the first true fire department in Philadelphia. So in a real way, Franklin was the first fireman. This is keeping with the how the firemen...

If I understand you correctly, you want to know how Enlightenment ideas in the Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact influenced the United States Constitution. You also mention the Bill of Rights,...

Benjamin Franklin's "Information to Those Who Would Remove to America" was written to correct the misconceptions of Europeans who viewed the nascent United States in a certain light and to...

There has been slow progress made on increasing equality and the distribution of power since the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This has not, however, been a straightforward process. The...

I would say that the difference is, in part, a matter of scope. American History tends to focus on the history of the United States, beginning largely with the colonial era and tracking forwards...

In 1949, the United States economy was coming out of a recession. It was not a very good time to find a job. The recession was not as bad as some economic prognosticators thought it might have...

Nostalgia about the past is before common, especially among politicians. They want to evoke well-loved historical figures to capitalize on their popularity. They also want people to look back and...

To be controversial, one must stir passions on both sides. The person must also, to some degree, court controversy by making decisions that a large number of people dislike. In recent history, the...

Phyllis Wheatley was the first African American published poet, and was a slave who received a high level of education for that time. Though she died early, she made many contributions to poetry...

In many ways, propaganda was one of the greatest triumphs of the first two world wars. In America and Britain, entire campaigns ensured that the populace was in agreement with the war in spite of...

There are a number of ways of approaching the task of identifying two U.S. presidents from throughout American history who were similar. An easy and obvious approach would be to list either of the...

I would like to say that political parties are one of the most powerful aspects of the American political system. In any major state or federal election, it is hard to get on the ballot or to...

Democracy is an overused term, as it is applied to revolutions and governments. We are a republic with democratic institutions. We elect people to make decisions for us because it would be too...

Franklin formed the Junto club in 1727 in order to hold discussions on morals, philosophy, politics, and other similar issues. Franklin aimed to bring together intelligent men with different areas...

Although legends have been created about Daniel Boone, he is of himself a worthy figure of history. For one thing, he was a fearless and brilliant fighter who fought in the French Indian War. When...

The Jonestown Massacre in 1978 focused the news media's attention on the practices of the Reverend Jim Jones and his People's Temple. Hundreds died from drinking cyanide-laced Kool-aid with Jones's...

Everyone's answer to this question will be different, but for me the three most influential changes to American society have been the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement, and the...

There are at least three major things that this cartoon has to tell us about the politics of its time and the 1860 election in particular. First, it shows us the central impact of the Dred Scott...

Interestingly, the Nebraska state government was not always unicameral. For the first seventy years of the state's existence, from 1867 to 1937, it operated with two houses like the other states in...

The judicial branch is the branch of government that mainly is responsible for the incorporation of the Bill of Rights. Since most issues regarding the Bill of Rights involve individual freedoms,...

Benjamin Franklin dabbled in science and tinkering for many years as a young man. He was fascinated by scientific research, and he studied it closely. He invented a stove (called the "Franklin...

Many good answers. I'd suggest the selection/election of George Washington as our first President. He kept us from getting another "King George" and established many precedents that have served...

Aside from being one of the Founding Fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin was a prolific inventor and many of his inventions were based on solving real and everyday problems, as a means of making...

It is by no means clear that militarism is actually a good thing for the United States. There are many people, in fact, who would say that it is a bad thing. If, however, we have to assume that...

There were many important events in the British colonies in the century and a half between the founding of Jamestown and the French and Indian War. The six that are described in the other...

U.S. progress on liberty, equality and power since the time of Reconstruction following the Civil War until now is mixed. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, ostensibly prohibited states from...

The Black Lives Matter movement has differed from previous civil rights movements in that it is more focused on promoting human rights than advancing any specific legislation. In this sense, it has...

If you have a textbook or some type of instructor notes that is supposed to answer this question, I really suggest looking at these elements first because the answers you obtain here might not...

An important social difference between the colonies and Great Britain in the 18th Century involved notions of aristocracy and land ownership. For centuries, most land in Great Britain had been...

Benjamin Franklin changed the United States of America in more than one way. He was an extremely influential inventor, author and politician. Many argue that he is the most important Founding...

In his 1898 essay "The Distant Possessions," the Scottish-born billionaire and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie sets out a case against American imperialism. The essay was written in the wake of the...

They all influenced each other in the sense that they all happened during the Johnson administration. Johnson hoped to be known for his social programs in his War on Poverty but instead he was...

It should not be surprising that British political systems influenced American ones, especially in the early part of the country's history when founders of the United States were figuring out how...

What: The Articles of Confederation, whose full name was the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was the first document that established a national government after the colonies asserted...

The idea of separate spheres had to do with male and female roles. The idea of separate spheres held that men and women belonged in separate parts of society. Women were supposed to stay at home...

You could write your paper from the perspective of technology's role in the development of the U.S. If you went that route, I would suggest: 1) factory system (Industrial Revolution), 2) the steam...

Benjamin Franklin utilized different personas in his work, such as Silence Dogood, Janus, Poor Richard, and many others. In the opening paragraphs of "The Way to Wealth," he adds yet another layer...

In November 1800, Congress held its first session in Washington DC, the new national capital which had not existed ten years before. The following year, Thomas Jefferson became the third President....

The Market Revolution changed economies all over the world. Mass production and interchangeable parts made production faster and cheaper. It also spelled the end of the livelihoods of many artisans...

Not everyone would agree that the American flag is a symbol of freedom. Many Native Americans and Native Hawaiians would say that it is the flag of the people who took their lands. The...

A number of years ago in a television interview the political commentator George Will asserted that being an American is, unlike the identities of the European (and other) nations, based on the...

One could argue that the ideology of Manifest Destiny was important throughout this period, even before it was first articulated by the journalist John O' Sullivan in 1845. This was the notion that...

As the authors write in chapter 15 of African-American History that the church was "integral" to "the lives of most black people." This was in part because, under the Jim Crow system, it was an...

This war did expose a contradiction in American thinking. On the European front, America sought to end Hitler's genocide of Jewish people and other oppressed groups. American soldiers were sent...

The answer to this question will depend on whom you ask because there are many different types of historians who specialize in society, politics, and the economy. The Red Scare that took place...

I think that it is difficult to envision something on the level of colonial resistance to grab a hold of the nation and spark another revolution on that scale. In surveying the terrain at this...

One common misconception is that American settlers viewed Native Americans as primitive and Native American culture as distasteful. In fact, as Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen points...

The Hudson River School was a group of painters in the United States that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century and had their heyday in the period surrounding the American Civil War. They were...