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What Does it Mean to be an American? Essay

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Over the course of the first century and a quarter of the history of the United States of America, what it means to be an American has been defined by a number of different documents. The authors of those documents have come from varied backgrounds all searching to find their place in the growth and development of this country. At the beginning of the nation, those authors came from the English tradition of what government should look like and what those who were looking to change that government should do. When the country experienced some early growing pains, many of those same people came together again to try and develop a new system of laws for the country. As the nation grew up, it also grew apart and faced arguably the most …show more content…

That the ideas of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are our birthrights as Americans and that regardless of what the government does, they must adhere and live up to protecting those freedoms for us. If the government fails to that, then, in the document’s own words, we have “the right to alter or abolish and institute new government.” The delegates to the 2nd Continental Congress believed that because King George III and Parliament had not guaranteed those essential human rights to the colonists, they had the right to break away and start again. The document lists 27 grievances, many of which related directly to the events of the 1760s and early 1770s, including forcing the colonists to house troops (the Quartering Act, one of the Intolerable Acts) and by imposing taxes without their consent. This, then gave the delegates in Congress the ability to dissolve all political connections with England and make the colonies “free and independent states.” With the issues of independence of the nation out of the way, the country now set about setting up a government that they believed would represent all of the people. The problem for many in the nation was that women were somehow neglected as a part of the process. From the colonial period, women had very few rights for themselves. If

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