Argumentative Essay about American History

Manifest destiny was one of the 19th century American beliefs of the fact that USA was meant to expand across North American continent from Atlantic seaboard all the way to Pacific Ocean. Manifest destiny and advocates believed on the fact that expansion was not just wise but quite inexorable and apparent. Between 1800 and 1850 the Americans experienced a marked change as far as national unity was concerned. The expansion boosted national unity between 1800 and 1823, the treaty of 1818 and Louisiana Purchase boosted the national unity as it helped spur up the era of wonderful feelings and also displayed loyalty.

It also marked the downfall of the federalists who were reduced to mere sectionalists. The expansion also helped in simulating the economy thus there was peace. However, the expansion also destroyed the national unity because of the outstanding issues of slavery and to an extent there was disunion between various groups (Ray & Martin, 1982). It separated the country leading to the Mexican American war. It led to the widening of the gap between the poor and the rich people. Q2. The industrial revolution was of great benefit to the economy and the economic development of USA.

It showed the inventions of the weaving and spinning machines thus increasing the America’s growth. It transformed the economy into a modern urban state of industrialization. Industrializations in USA led to the expansion of the transport industry which had a great impact on economy (Margaret & Howard, 2005, pp. 478. The electricity was harnessed and there was improvement of the refining process and leading to an accelerated production. Generally there were transitions from the hand made products to the machine made. The home made products were also transformed to factory productions.

Industrial revolution created more jobs to the citizens thus leading even to the printing of more money and growth as far as economy is concerned. Q3. In the 19th century, a new industrial order led to the reshaping of the USA. Some new systems like technology, resource development, transportation, invention, communications, labor, corporate management, finance and others boosted the industrial productivity and growth. Businesses expanded to curb the costs as well as competition and control efficiency and increase control.

Workers found job satisfaction, power and the free time also reduced as the numbers of people in the factories mushroomed. The life of Americans was boosted. The new order was welcomed with mixed reactions of most Americans accepting it and being happy. They accommodated it and accepted some low paying jobs as well as lay offs and the creation of unions as they bargained for better wages. However, others rejected it through some mechanisms like absenteeism, slowdowns as well as quitting through forming radical unions for example Knights of Labor.

The immigrants were the most favored by the industrial order and took advantage of it while most Americans responded rationally (Dominic, 2003, pp. 6). Q4. In the American history, the term Gilded are is the era of rapid population and economic growth in USA during the era of post civil war. Many social, economic and political shifts were already taking place in the gilded age. One of the most crucial shifts in the architecture that took place in the great depression ended the state buildings and creation of public spaces for example parkways and parks.

The shift and the changes that took place were rather smooth. Through the designing of the country’s estate, the landscape architects had a prospect and opportunity of experimenting with a vast range of some design constructs. The architecture profession at this era thrived. This impacted a lot in Americans coming to an understanding about themselves (Roosevelt, n. d). It drove them closer to God and helped USA separate from Europe. Spanning since Jefferson’s time to transcendentalists up to today, the public space has had a major significance on Americans.

The public spaces included city parks, state parks, parkways and others. The public space was created through the New Deal. It led to issues like leisure and changes in aesthetics (Roosevelt, n. d). The public space was meant to relieve the urban stress caused by commercialization and industrialization for example the parkway. These were also places that the Americans could redefine themselves. Some principles of picturesque naturalism were created and during this era of great depression, there were road constructions.

The government also offered various jobs to those people who were unemployed so that they could build the required facilities. People participated in some leisure activities in the public spaces thus life was much better. Q5. The progressive era in USA was an era of reform that basically flourished during 1890s to 1920s. Keeping the issue of corruption from politics was the main agenda of the progressive era. The progressive movement was essentially an effort of curing many ills that the American society developed during industrial revolution.

It was driven by reformers that were focused on change both politically and socially. The success as far as progressivism was concerned owed so much to the publicity that was generated by writers, muckrakers who detailed on the horrors of urban slums, poverty, corruption, child labor and factory conditions. One of its success is that the reforms helped to pave way for the regional planning divisions and promoted local control as well as planning professionalisms ( Elisa, 2002, pp. 11). It also helped in unleashing a new pattern of the suburban development.

Despite some of the success it brought like cubing some social evils like child labor and others, it however had its weaknesses and failures. They differed in their analysis of the problems and how they were supposed to solve them (Thomas & William, 2007). Other failures were failures of the planning system that comprised of divisions of planning authority. Works cited Anderson, Margaret & Taylor, Howard. Sociology: Understanding a diverse society. USA: Cengage learning, 2005 Barbour, Elisa. Metropolitan growth planning in California. USA: Public policy Instit. of CA, 2002 Billington, Ray & Ridge, Martin.

Westward expansion: a history of the American frontier. USA: Macmillan, 1982. Pacyga, Dominic. Polish immigrants and industrial Chicago : workers on the south side, 1880-1992. USA: University of Chicago, 2003 Roosevelt, Franklin. Public vs. private spaces. N. d. Retrieved 21, July, 2010< http://xroads. virginia. edu/~MA99/hall/Dumbartonoaks/space_dum. htm West, Thomas. , Schambra, William. The progressive movement and the transformation of American politics. 2007. Retrieved 21, July, 2010< http://www. heritage. org/Research/Reports/2007/07/The-Progressive-Movement-and-the-Transformation-of-American-Politics