The Importance Of Constructivism

However, this rise in white identity politics is not an American-specific phenomenon. Its rise has occurred in multiple different countries in Europe (crisis of white identity poltics, NYT). Denmark and Germany both have anti-immigrant parties that are rapidly growing in popularity. Britain removed itself from the European Union in part to be able to choose how to regulate immigration. Currently, one of the main French presidential candidates is Marine Le Pen.

Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, Americans used the theory of manifest destiny to justify their conquests for new territory. Later, Social Darwinism was added to the mix, which made Americans even more big-headed. Both of these theories caused Americans to believe that the United States was superior to other nations and that all lands were theirs for the taking. However, there were also many differences between the two expansionist periods because some people supported imperialism while others were highly opposed to the idea.

More vital, they accepted that the mounting antislavery disturbance would occupy consideration from the manufactured imbalances among white men and bombshell the party's fragile intersectional unions. Where it counts, numerous suspected that the slavery issue was yet a smokescreen hurled by displeased elitists looking to recover the activity from the genuine individuals' reason. The Jacksonians' essential policy push, both in Washington and in the states, was to free government of class predispositions and disassemble the top-down, credit-driven motors of the business upheaval. The war on the Second Bank of the United States

They smudged borders and altered allegiances to

This action consisted of whites promoting nativist ideas towards those of other ethnicities and trying to prove their inferiority. Some white Americans even tried to organize political parties such as the Know Nothing Party to staunchly resist certain immigrants being admitted into the U.S. Not only was it individuals promoting such ideas, but the Federal government helped ban immigration from certain countries and or limit it. This in contrast with what immigrants experienced in the 1920s was almost nothing as in the 1920s the KKK is reborn and the number of lynching’s increases. However, the violence expressed toward immigrants in America was not even considered wrong at either point in

Oscar Wilde, Irish writer, theatrically said in 1891 that “progress has been made” because of “disobedience and... rebellion.” Furthermore, Wilde argues that disobedience is man's original virtue. Disobedience of law led to the American Revolution, desegregation, and improved civil rights across the board, proving that Wilde is correct. However, Wilde's claim ignores disobedience or the law that is regressive and detrimental to the health of the public, such as the Confederacy seceding for slavery, school districts that refused to desegregate, shootings that kill dozens of people. Additionally, in early human life, obedience was important for survival, leading me to believe that disobedience is “man's original virtue” if motivated by greed,

They almost unilaterally believed that white anglo-saxon protestants were superior to those of other races, origins, and religions. During the 1830s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, they would come to believe that it was their destiny (in the words of John O’Sullivan, their “Manifest Destiny”) to settle the entire continent, although for some this belief was tempered with a brief contemplation of ethics. These two assumptions provided the social fuel for many significant political policies during this time period, including many that caused major political strife. Even though people on both sides of an issue often held the same core beliefs, they approached it in different ways, resulting in political controversy. However, it is important to remember that there were people who did not hold these beliefs and who were extraordinarily vocal about their dissent, although there were many reasons for dissention, most of which were not at all selfless in motivation.

Throughout time diverse regions have considered other societies to be barbaric, causing them to have the desire of “civilizing” them. Likewise, During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the American nativist groups, possessed a similar perspective towards immigration. Nativist’s opposed immigration, as they believed that it would negatively impact the United States socially, morally, politically, and economically. Socially and morally, the nativists feared that foreigners were a threat to the American society, as they were culturally inferior, possessed many ailments, and committed crimes. Politically, the ethnocentric nativists believed that immigrants would corrupt the government and negatively influence American politics.

This sparked the outrage that the freedom and liberty of the colonists were being taken. Under the republican system, a new, more fair judiciary system would be set into place. Americans would also have more say in taxes and what they were on, which was another outrage mentioned in The Declaration of Independence. Both the Delaration of Independence and Common Sense speak on the wrongdoings of the British monarchy and how America has been negatively effected by it.

Postcolonial literature has been popular for its larger part of the theorist (“Postcolonialism” 225). “ Racial discrimination is a theme that runs throughout postcolonial discourse, as white Europeans consistently emphasized their superiority over darker skinned people,” (“Postcolonialism” 231). Race, language and identity is a main part of Postcolonial. The Postcolonialism was after the countries gained its independence from Great Britain (“Postcolonialism” 225). Cultural difference were one of the main reasons of postcolonial, the separation between two or more ethnic groups.

The Red Scare was intimidating and shocking and Americans did not want that to spread by nativism to take over the U.S (Doc 1). Bolshevism was thought to drag down civilization in a mess caused by WWI (Doc 7). Bolsheviks were causing negativity in America, caused strikes and negatively influenced the social ideas of Americans (Doc 8). The spread of communism caused Americans to come together and show what kind of nation they really are. Patriotism and nationalism arose to counter other beliefs and immigrant biases.

While some Americans thought the Articles of Confederation was good since it waged in a successful war for independence, many Americans concluded that under the Articles of Confederation, there were many issues formed such as providing limited central government, developing many economic problems, and foreign powers. “The framers of the Articles of Confederation kept in mind their complaint against Britain. Parliament had passed laws the colonists considered unfair. The new states did not want to risk giving too much power to a central government far from the people”(Pearson, 206). This shows how the Articles provided a limited central government that lead many Americans to disagree with the Articles of Confederation.

Zinn uses the lens of social justice to view American history and put forward the argument that American history is rife with racism (civil rights issues and omission of non-white historical figures), violence (genocide of Native Americans and race riots), capitalistic greed leading to immiseration (upper class and its then ownership of 2/5th of America’s wealth), and power run amok leading to a type of imperialism (worldwide military interventions). S&A put on rose-colored glasses to argue that American history is fair (the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights), and that Americans are a people of character (Adams’ refusal to create conflict) and virtue (Founding Father’s insertion of slavery-ending measures into government), thereby painting Americans as a moralistic and exceptional people. Based upon what little bit of these two books that I’ve read, I’m going to view both of their contents with skepticism; Zinn seems to be pushing a liberalist agenda, while S&A are adhering to a conservative interpretation of American history. Whenever something so blatantly biased is encountered, it is best to view it with a healthy degree of doubt. The ironic thing is, I believe that both Zinn and S&A are right: American history is violent and exclusive, Americans are a truly amazing people that have achieved greatness, and NEVER trust the federal

Thus, the opposition movement was born since members of minority ethnic groups felt that the English Only ordinances were unjust, and wanted equality by having the right to speak their own language recognized, whether as written language on signs or spoken language. So, as expressed in the excerpt from Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, all situations in which an

In light of the recent election, a concerning social evil is the treatment of immigrants in the United States, specifically those of Latino/a backgrounds. The mimetic process was a particularly useful tool for the Trump campaign, as Trump’s hyperbolic and ignorant statements about immigrants resonated with caucasian, middle class Americans who imitated his hateful rhetoric and turned words into action. In the mimetic relationship, an individual or a group is victimized because of violence. The cycle of violence towards immigrants in the Trump campaign began as verbal, but the ideas behind Trump’s words inspired hate crimes and the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan, which further validated this insularity. The solution to the mimetic process is