America is in a Moral Decline
The founders of America believed that a popular government and its laws necessarily rested upon an underlying moral order that preceded both the state and man-made law. They referred to this transcendent moral order in the Declaration of Independence as "self evident truths" and "the laws of nature and of nature's god" (Barr pg. 211). For a republic to work, the founders thought, the people had to internally guided by commonly shared moral values. The founders viewed themselves as launching a great experiment: Could a free people retain a moral culture that would promote the self-discipline and virtues needed to restrain corruption? "We are still, in many ways, 'the shining city on the hill' for the rest of the world. What has sustained us over these two centuries has been our commitment to our great moral heritage" (Barr pg. 212). Today though, this "great experiment" appears threatened. According to a recent poll, 73 percent of Americans worry that the nation is experiencing a moral decline (Baker). They have the right to be concerned. For the last thirty years, a moral crisis has been brewing. It is undeniable that since the 60's, there has been a steady assault on traditional values. "Crime, broken homes, racial hatred, and problems related to sexual activity are on the rise" (Schuller). America's morals and culture are declining.
As reported in The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, since 1960, the population has increased 41 percent. The gross domestic product has nearly tripled; and total social spending by all levels of government has risen from 142.73 billion to 787.00 billion. During the same thirty-year period, there has been a 560 percent inc...
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Bennett, William J., The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, The Heritage Foundation, 1993.
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Murphey, Dwight D., "America's Civilizational Crisis: The Rise of Internal Barbarism," Conservative Review, vol. 4, no. 5, September/October 1993.
Schuller, Robert A. (1997) In Search of Morality, How You Can Live a Fulfilling Life from the Inside Out [On-Line]. Available: http://www.fni.com/heritage/aug97/Bookshelf.html
Thomas, Clarence, "The Rights Revolution and America's Urban Poor," Vital Speeches of the Day, June 15, 1994.
The Civil War that took place in the United States from 1861 to 1865 could have easily swung either way at several points during the conflict. There is however several reasons that the North would emerge victorious from this bloody war that pit brother against brother. Some of the main contributing factors are superior industrial capabilities, more efficient logistical support, greater naval power, and a largely lopsided population in favor of the Union. Also one of the advantages the Union had was that of an experienced government, an advantage that very well might have been one of the greatest contributing factors to their success. There are many reasons factors that lead to the North's victory, and each of these elements in and amongst themselves was extremely vital to the effectiveness of the Northern military forces. Had any one of these factors not been in place the outcome of the war could have been significantly different, and the United States as we know it today could be quite a different place to live.
Although I have just embarked on the journey of learning to play the saxophone,I am very intrigued by it’s history and musical origin. The saxophone is simply an amazing instrument with so many different kinds and variations of it, and so many musical genres it is able to play. The saxophone can produce soft angelic tones, or hard hitting jazz numbers, basically anything you want to hear the saxophone, and it’s player are able to provide you with. Upon such a versatile instrument there are so many endless possibilities and I am here to share with you some of the most amazing and chalenging things about the Saxophone. I will inform you about the history of the saxophone and how it has influenced the musical world, and much more.
"Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians." Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. .
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
Chicago was the best place to live and visit for anyone. Many people traveled from far places to visit and live in Chicago. Long after the World War II many things started reshaping America. One of the most significant was the racial change all over America but specifically in Chicago. Many southern blacks started to move into Chicago. Chicago started to become mostly dominated by blacks and other minorities while whites started to move into the suburbs of Chicago. "Beginning in the 1930s, with the city's black population increasing and whites fleeing to the suburbs, the black vote became a precious commodity to the white politicians seeking to maintain control" (Green, 117). Many of the mayors such as Edward J. Kelly, Martin H. Kennelly, and Richard J. Daley won over the blacks and got their votes for them to become mayor. The black population grew by 77 percent by the 1940. The white population dropped from 102,048 to 10,792 during the years of 1940 to 1960. With all of these people moving into Chicago there had to be more housing. There were many houses built to accommodate all the people. Martin H. Kennelly at one time wanted to tear down slums and have public housing built in the black ghetto. Many of the blacks wanted to escape these ghettos so some of them; if they could they would try to move to the white communities. When the blacks would try to move into the white communities they were met with mobs. There were many hurdles that blacks had to overcome not only in Chicago but all over America. The blacks of Chicago had to fight for a place to live and to find a mayor that would help them for who they are, not their color.
Prior to the Civil War there were economic and social differences between the North and the South. The South became dependent on cotton and slavery. Instead, the North was becoming industrial rather than agricultural. The main difference the between the both sides was one was based on plantation systems and the other city life. The change in the economy caused people of the North to work together. While the South’s society remained the same old social class system.
The public was further angered by something called “yellow journalism”. Yellow journalism refers to writers such as Joseph Pullitzer and William Hearst trying to outdo each other with screeching headlines and hair raising “scoops”. Where there were no headlines, the yellow press would exaggerate and fabricate stories to get readers interested in their newspaper. For example, Hearst once wrote about Spanish Customs Offic...
The very history of the country, a major contributor to the evolution of its political culture, shows a legacy of democracy that reaches from the Declaration of Independence through over two hundred years to today’s society. The formation of the country as a reaction to the tyrannical rule of a monarchy marks the first unique feature of America’s democratic political culture. It was this reactionary mindset that greatly affected many of the decisions over how to set up the new governmental system. A fear of simply creating a new, but just as tyrannic...
An American History of the World. 4th ed. of the book. W.W. Norton, 2012, 591. 6.) Foner, Eric.
The republican mindset generated an atmosphere of focus on liberty, virtue, equality, justice, and the common good. “A republic demanded an exceptionally high degree of public morality.” During this time,
Concerning the Principles of Morals." ; 1983 Hackett Publishing Co.
America wastes a lot of time trying to create a democracy completely absent of the moral expectations that our ancestors have put into place. Our founding fathers’ dream of establishing a country in which all people would be accepted has begun to fall. In our attempt to rid our country of a democracy contaminated with any belief in a supreme power, we have rid ourselves of many of our values and morals. Perhaps it is impossible for religion to dominate our political country, but we have misinterpreted the original intent of “separation of church and state” and taken this concept too far.
‘’I desire no concealment of my opinions in regard to the institution of slavery. I look upon it as a great evil ... A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Abraham Lincoln said this while running for U.S senator, which included his opinion on the slavery conflict between north and south. The Unites States had a big conflict between the north and south on the country on the belief of the slavery and if it slaves should be free or not. This conflict was from 1861 to 1865. Two supporting events that slavery caused the civil war was the Missouri Conflict and the election of president Lincoln. Slavery was the root cause of the civil war because of the conflict between the north and the south centered around the beliefs in slavery.
This country was founded on very prominent thinking. Before our founding fathers had even conceived the thought of birthing a new country, higher thinking had occurred before hand. The people had stopped, evaluated, and analyzed their own principals in a philosophical manner, thus the Age of Reason had begun. Today, there are many different values in today’s American society in contrast with ones from the Age of Reason.
Childress, Diana, and Bruce Watson. "The fall of the west." Calliope 11, no. 5 (January 2001): 27.