De Crevecoeur

In this video of the new world trade centre, it shows a time lapse of its building in America. After the twin towers were knocked down in 2001, this shook America because they had not been under threat in a long time. But the power of the nation meant they fought back. This building shows that the have to have the biggest and the best (this building will be the tallest in North America), and that new is best. This can be demonstrated in  De Crevecoeur's book as one of the themes of the book is the value of work and reward in America. This means there is more to aspire to, wheras in Europe and worldwide the visions of land are represented differently. For example in Europe it is more important to savor and fix the ancient buildings than build new. This then means there is more reward in America, due to its 'newness'. This still stands today as America is known to have the best, so and emmigrant is going to get a taste of that.

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/obama-wins-1-2.jpg


Within 'What is an American?', Crevecoeur talks about the accomplishments of his fellow countrymen, more specifically pride in these accomplishments. Pride in the accomplishments of the new society of Americans and pride in the fact that he feels that America is now comparable to Europe in a sense of development, art, and culture.

"Here he sees the industry of his native country displayed in a new manner, and traces, in their works,the embryos of all the arts, sciences, and ingenuity, which flourish in Europe"

"Here he beholds cities, substantial villages...where, one hundred years ago, all was wild, woody, and uncultivated...It is a prospect which must inspire a good citizen with the most heartfelt pleasure!"

I believe that this is as true today as it was back then as national pride is always something i would personally associate with American society. The image above shows average American citizens on election day waving their countries flag together. People of all ages and ethnic backgrounds all showing support and love for their country by coming together as one to share their pride in the country they love.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0QL64pNdzLk

This is a link to a you tube clip which I found. Within the video it shows how much America has progressed through time.

Within De Crevecoeur's book he explains how it's strange how there are so many tourists in Europe where they go around and look at old ruins of buildings and history which has happened when they could visit America and see progress and a future being made. I think that this clip shows the real life American dream as within the video it doesn't only show what is happening in society today, and Americas succession, but it shows what America and many famous people and successors have come from. Progression being the main feature of the American dream.

Within the video (near the end) it explains how a boy's parents want him to strive to have even bigger dreams  and goals than what they have, as they hope that they have allowed him to have more opportunities than they ever had growing up. Obama's speech explains with in the video, about how his  family have struggled through life, I.E. slavery, however each generation want the next, their children to strive to achieve more, main example beings through the growth of Obama's, from slavery to know running one of the most if not the most successful country in the world, which helps to allow many other countries to continue to survive financially. America is a magical place where achieving goals is part of everyday life, wanting to achieve a little bit more to having the completeness of the succession of the overall individual dream.

A comment under the YouTube video, which caught my attention,states how the American dream is possible and not just for them lucky individuals. The boy explains how his parents came from nothing and were saving from the age of 12, their wages, to go to college. And now after putting in so much effort they have succeeded and now are very wealthy, being able to give their son all of the opportunities and more, which they never had. This was all due down to the thought of having the drive to achieve and succeed, being ale to have the real life American dream. People may not believe all of this, but there is also, it was explained, not specific American dream. There is no single one, everyone's is different as it depends on what you want to achieve and what you believe succession is.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/pocohontas/pocahontas_smith_letter.cfm

This account is a letter written in  1616, and it is a letter written to the Queen from and explorer, John Smith, who has visited America and made contact with the natives.
Within his letter he makes references to the native people explaining how he was captured but also how friendly they where and how they had such good courtesy towards them. One native he speaks of in specific is a female called Pocahontas who is the chiefs daughter.
This post surprised me as it showed how friendly the natives were and welcoming, but then, from history we know that the Americans captured them and forced to transform their life, learn a new language and give up their culture. Within the letter written to the Queen it does mention briefly how the natives were captured. which came as a huge shock as they offered nothing but hospitality to these new being on their land.

WHY HAS ONLY ONE STUDENT POSTED?

Don't bother coming to the group if you have not bothered to post - this means in good time, not two hours before the class! We need to read and review the posts.

http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/aj/id/4799

Linked above is a first hand account, written by George Percy in 1606. The account (of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia) covers where the settlement is located, how long they had been there, and the settlers first meeting with Native Americans.

I think the thing first stood out at me was the way Percy calls the Natives savages,
 'The first night of our landing, about midnight, there came some savages sayling close to our quarter'.
Although Percy and the other settlers had never before seen a Native American, they still label them as savages, which to me suggests that Percy thought himself and the others to be better than the natives.

'Wee came to a savage town, where wee found but few people...we had of them strawberries and other things'. Percy then goes on to say how one of the savages offered them each tobacco and fruit. I think that this part of the article stands out to me because even though the Natives are being welcoming and peaceful, offering fruit and tobacco, the settlers still refer to them as Savage, suggesting that possibly the settlers believe that they are inherently better, more civilised people, as the continued use of the word savage, to me, shows distrust and dubiousness.

Obama: Republicans using 'extortion' on debt limit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24453693

In this news article Obama is speaking about the recent government shut down, and how the republicans have been demanding money in their budget in agreement for Obamacare. Although this is incovnient for Obama, it is also good for the fact that it may give him good publicity as he is trying to help the American people with the healthcare regime. This may also help the democratic party in the next election. However for the time being, Obamacare may not get passed due to such strong views against the act.

USA Map

 

In this image of the Untied states, it shows the difference from the west of America to the east. The difference from Insdustrialisation in the West and the agricultural side of the west. This is quite a fun image for children aswell to show the variety of america, and with the images shown it would be inviting for them. It shows what each part is know for, for example florida and oranges, or new orleans and jazz.

  

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138009/andrew-j-nathan-and-andrew-scobell/how-china-sees-america

This link explains how China is now as a country growing in power and wealth. The most powerful country currently is the United States of America, China is of course aware of this and therefore there are elements of concern debating weather of not the United States will notice China's growth in power and growth economically and may try and sabotage China's succession.

Americans believe that they have a solid positive relationship with China, which the link below shows. However China do not have this same view. China as a country although they don't have a bad relationship with America are still wary of them.

As both countries become more and more powerful, conflict could possibly arise as they could start to compete to become the most powerful and influential country.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/11/01/how-americans-and-chinese-view-each-other/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24346960

(Linked above is an article on the BBC website entitled 'Viewpoints: Is American politics broken?')

Below is a section of the article by Darrell West;

'The problem with American politics is that Tea Party activists have taken over the Republican Party.

They come from small, rural districts and now are demanding that House Speaker John Boehner practises extremist politics.'

Boehner could end this stalemate today by allowing a continuing resolution to go to the floor for a vote without repealing Obamacare. It would pass and this crisis would be resolved.

However, conservatives have warned that if Mr Boehner allows a floor vote without their support, they will depose him and elect another Speaker.'

I think that in this case, West assumes that Tea Party (extreme right wing) members are corrupting the process of fair and democratic politics by demanding that the whole republican party go their way. 

Although i do not necessarily agree with the point at hand, i do believe that corruption and so on is an unavoidable tragedy of today's political systems. So although i do not agree completely, i do think the point made is completely valid.  

image taken from; www.whepducom.blogspot.co.uk  (http://whepducom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/in-olympics-of-teen-pregnancy-u.html) August 14th, 2012.

The image above shows a cultural demographic map of the poverty amongst children in the United States. The map clearly shows how the majority of southern states show the highest percentage of childhood poverty, whilst the other southern states which are not 30 or more percent, are close to it.

I think one of the contributing factors to the south's high poverty rate is the high population of African-Americans, struggling against racial inequality (where jobs and fair pay are concerned) in the somewhat racially bias region.

I also think that, with the South being such a densely populated region. problems such as poverty will naturally occur as jobs and a reasonable standard of housing are in high demand. That being said, if we look at the childhood poverty percentage for Wyoming, we see that it is less than 10%. This is because, although Wyoming is a large state, it is vastly empty with a population of around 500,000, therefore the demand for work and quality housing are not as high as the densely populated south.

This demographic map shows the sections in which where people live. They are split into coloured sections indicating their ethnicity. From this map I am surprised in the amount of light blue, multiethnic , whom live within America. On the map you can see how the light blue is spread around the map but it is mainly focused in the western half of America.