Question
Write a 500 words essay for each prompt below.
Prompt 1. The various reform communities that sprang up throughout America during the first part of the nineteenth century typically understood the meaning of freedom differently from mainstream Americans. Analyze the various meanings these groups gave to the word “freedom,” and compare those meanings with the ones given by mainstream America. Your essay ought to give the reader a sense of what these communities were rejecting about mainstream society.
Prompt 2. Examine the aftermath of the Mexican War and its consequences for American Indians, enslaved Africans, free blacks, and whites in the newly acquired areas. Think back to Thomas Jefferson’s idea of an Empire of Liberty. Did the newly acquired land from the Mexican War promote Jefferson’s idea, or as with the Louisiana Purchase, was it an empire of liberty for only a few?
Prompt 3. The sophistication and diversity of the peoples in the early Americas is remarkable. Explore that diversity in an essay that discusses early Native-American culture, architecture, religion, gender relations, economy, and views of freedom.
Solution
Prompt#1
The meaning of freedom among the American people has always changed from time to time. In the 19th century, many reform movements arose during the 19 th century in America and focused on various issues, especially abolition of slavery and women’s rights. Even though the reform movements spoke different definitions of freedom, these definitions were generally focused on freedom as giving the same rights to everyone and intending to benefit every individual and society. Therefore, according to these reformers, freedom was supposed to be guaranteed to all human beings regardless of race, gender, or social class. For instance, abolitionists’ meaning of freedom was intended to raise African Americans’ awareness of their position at the time and that they could share the same rights as the whites. Thus in the 19th century, freedom was identified as equal rights for all human beings, including women, their husbands, the enslaved, and their masters. The reformers raised public awareness especially using Thomas Jefferson’s declaration that “all men are created equal.” Therefore, through the emphasis on this declaration, women realized that there had been very many inequalities between them and men. From Jefferson’s view of equality, the public meaning of freedom had changed to a greater meaning of claiming access to equal rights to all levels and parts of the society, such as the enslaved Africans, women, and prisoners…………for help with this assignment contact us via email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com
Prompt#2
After the “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo” was signed in 1848, the Mexican War ended, and the US-Mexican border moved from the Nueces River to the Rio Grande. Under this treaty, the US annexation of Texas was recognized as Mexico agreed to sell California and other territories for $15 million, including the damage claims made against America. The expansion of the US had a great impact on already affected Native Americans. According to American policymakers, the process of encroachment of Native Americans occurred faster than they had predicted, and after the Mexican War thus America immediately placed the newly acquired territories and tribes under federal jurisdiction. The Americans in the new territories believed that destiny had awarded the lands for them to develop and the Native Americans who could try to interfere with the progress were risking being pushed aside. Therefore, according to the Americans, the tribes in the territories were expected to either assimilate or become forever marginalized.
Although the efforts to expand the republic through seizing western territories from the native tribes were successful, quick, and beyond Americans’ expectations, it affected the enslaved Africans by inviting debates about the fate of slavery in the newly acquired territories. According to the Southerners, the Northern abolitionists were interfering with their culture, particularly slavery, while the Northerners claimed that the Southerners were planning to dominate the US politics by adding representatives in Congress for the purpose of protecting the human property for slaveholders. …………for help with this assignment contact us via email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com
Prompt#3
There were hundreds of Native American tribes in early America, and they had their own customs, language, traditions, and way of life. In most cases, generalizing them by using the term “Indians” denies the vast cultural diversity between the tribes. Regarding language, more than 200 tribes lived in Native America, where the groups used more than 200 different languages. For instance, the Cherokees of the Southeast and the Navajo of the Southwest had totally unrelated languages. Their lifestyles also greatly varied because some of the tribes were domestic, but others, like the Lakota, were nomads. Most of the early native American tribes engaged in war especially the Apache, who were the most feared. In religion, the indigenous tribes of North American had developed diverse religious systems that involved the creation of myths, oral transmission from one generation to another, and explanation of the origin of society. Additionally, some native American tribes worshiped an all-powerful and all-knowing creator while others “master” spirits with varying forms and gender. In other tribes, there were lesser supernatural entities that included gods of disaster, diseases, suffering, and death. Some of the tribes believed in afater5life and immortality of the human soul, but others did not…………for help with this assignment contact us via email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com