The American Promise Summary

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In my opinion and based on my readings of our textbook The American Promise: A History of the United States by James Roark, the most pressing issue the young republic faced after the new congress took power under the new constitution in 1789, and George Washington became president was searching for stability. In the young republic 's search for stability they needed to cover many bases politically, socially, and culturally.
Being a new nation America needed to become secure and stable in the world. In order to become more stable the book describes a few things which the republic most do. The book suggests in order to become more stable that they needed to heal old divisions, make political changes, social changes, and cultural changes. The …show more content…

They needed to take care of the other group of people sharing the same pieces of land they lived on, the natives, and they needed to do so without causing costs for war. Negotiations between people were made in order to secure safe and guaranteed land for the Natives, which included the promise of “...boundary protection by federal troops against land-seeking settlers.” (Roark 226) In return for this the Creeks made a promise of their own “..to accept the United States alone as its trading partner, shutting out Spain.” (Roark 226) These promises were broken by both parties involved and new approaches had to be made, and America as a young nation continued to struggle with this issue and the correct way in dealing with it. However, American 's did not only have to worry about social and political issues with the Natives who shared their lands but also with other nations, France and Britain, who America wanted to work well with but were always at war it seemed. This issue with the two other countries constantly at War made work with either side very difficult for America and the American people had split opinions on how to deal with the situation, and split opinions on what country they should work with and support over the other. This disagreement among the American people on how to deal with the situation and what sides to take lead to many mistakes in dealing with both sides over …show more content…

Women were excluded from political activity but that didn 't stop them from having civil issues and views. During this time both man and women were dealing with women rights and duties and took their views to writing. They wrote about stuff such as reevaluating “...courtships, marriage, and motherhood in light of republican ideals. Tyrannical power in the ruler, whether king or husband, was declared a thing of the past.” (Roark 219) Views on the roles of men and women and the ideals held for both genders were different including public virtue for man and sexual chastity for women. All these views were being challenged from not only women but also many men who saw the injustice and unfairness with the traditional views set in place for both men and women and who could see the positive outcomes of rearranging our views and to place more importance in the hands of women, including education. These ideas were listened to but only in the ways to help women put their families first and use their new knowledge and skills in raising their families rather than contributing more to the country. However, despite these views not getting the full result they intended at the time it was a good stepping stone along the way for a young

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