America: Land of Leaders

Nearly four centuries ago, our forefathers poured the foundation for what is now America. We have fought many wars, lost many battles, failed, and prospered. America has been built into the strongest and freest nation in the world by some of the most determined and independent people in history. However, determination and independence are not the most unique qualities of an American, though they are two strong ones. An American is a leader, someone who does not follow in someone else’s footprints but makes their own. Leadership has been a standing characteristic in America since the first Europeans stepped foot on its soil. It took leadership among the colonists-our ancestors-to form successful colonies that eventually became the basis of our country. It took leadership, along with courage, to declare independence from Great Britain over three hundred years ago. It took an immense amount of leadership to overcome the divide created by the Civil War. Events like these have pushed America’s leadership to its greatest limits, but with each tough trial, Americans have been able to rise above and come out stronger.

Will everyone rise to become a leader in America? Of course not, but this does not mean that leadership is not our best quality, that it is not what makes us America the free, home of the brave. We are free because many people got tired of being followers of a country that only pushed them around and treated them like they were an insignificant nuisance, only in the New Land for Britain’s benefit. In The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson writes that they would not be forced to stay in the shadow that Britain had cast on them for so long (448-49). He expresses the beliefs of countless others when he ta...

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...come together for the greater good and proved that America is not a force to be reckoned with. An American is a leader, someone who is born blessed to live in the greatest nation in the world. An American is someone who can get the job done when it needs to be done without complaint, like so many others did to mold this country. In Ronald Reagan’s Farewell Address, he states, “After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm”. Like Reagan said in his speech, America has thrived greatly, due to the leadership and determination of past leaders and today’s leaders. Without leadership, America would have been another failure to mark down in the history books. It would not be the land of opportunity or the land of the free. It would not be America.