American Ideals Essay

Austin Iverson
AP English
American Ideals: The Grapes of Wrath and The Great Gatsby Throughout history there have been
certain political and social ideals that have been upheld by most individuals in American society.
These ideals include liberty, equality, and pursuing the American dream. Many of these American
ideals can be seen in the classic novels The Grapes of Wrath and The Great Gatsby. Both novels take
place within two decades of each other in the same country but with vastly different
circumstances. Specifically, each book demonstrates these ideals in a different way and they are
embodied by the desires of individual characters. But in general, the meaning and quest for each
of these ideals is nearly identical and they are collectively displayed by the needs of human kind
as a whole. Liberty is defined as the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions
imposed by authority on one 's way of life, or more simply, the power to do as one pleases. The right
for all Americans to liberty has always been an important part of society. The constitution even states
that "they [American citizens] are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The sentence after this in the constitution states that
governments are made to protect these rights and that democracy will be used to regulate the
government. The Grapes of Wrath is a perfect example of the exploitation of liberty and the
corruption
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Modern American Ideals
Historical and Modern American Ideals
In the speech "The Spirit of Liberty"Learned Hand says,"Liberty lies in the heart of men and
women; when it dies there, no constitution no law no court can save it; no constitution, no law,no
court can even do much help. " I agree with Hand because if the people think they have no liberty
and can never get it they won't fight for liberty. For me to be an American means to have freedom as
a whole equality and justice.. The most important Ideals related to being an American is equality,
freedom and justice
Someone who embodies American ideals to me means they show, speake and believes the values of
what America should be. George Washington embodies the ideals of what it is to be an american.
One example the website georgewashingtonsociety.org points out is when George said "If freedom
of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." The
quote to me is saying that if we don't have freedom in our land we or prisoners. Washington talks
equality in the draft of First Inaugural Address that is written out in the book "We Still Hold These
Truths"he writes "I rejoice in a belief that intellectual light will spring up in the dark corners of the
earth; that freedom of enquiry will produce liberality of conduct; that mankind will reverse the
absurd position that the many were, made for the few; and that they will not continue slaves in one
part of the globe, when they can become freemen in another" the quote is saying that people need to
realize no one deserves something more than the other such in this case as freedom, no one deserves
it more than the other. Washington continuously talks about how God created us equally and gave
us freedom, Washington wants those values values to be held her in America and on earth.
Just like people, no country is perfect,and needs fixing. Some Countries could change things and
some do not have the ability to. If I could change one thing in America I would change the amount
poverty and homeless people. I would do this because it was never meant for people to be in the
streets, or not being able to practically live. One day I was coming back from an appointment in
downtown Portland. There were so many

American Motherhood Ideals
Lilianne Ziyalan
Mr. Seely
AP US History P.4
2 November 2017 Take Home DBQ Ideals of American womanhood between the time of the
American Revolution and the start of the Civil War were constantly shifting. The country was
founded with the everlasting ideals of economic opportunity, equality, and liberty for all, and
compared to Great Britain after independence, America had greater religious freedom and social
mobility. In spite of this, numerous groups were excluded from the full extent of these rights and
privileges– especially women. After the American Revolution a belief regarding the roles of women
emerged and came to be known as republican motherhood, which centered around the belief that
women had the primary responsibility of raising their children to uphold the values of
republicanism so they could be valuable members of the newly formed American republic. A
complementing set of beliefs were instilled into American society between the period of 1820 to
1860, the cult of domesticity, which asserted that women were solely to serve as wives, mothers,
and housekeepers who were concerned with only domestic affairs. While the principles brought forth
by the cult of domesticity and the ideas of republican motherhood were accepted by many, much of
what they embodied was unachievable for women of lower economic standing due to social
oppression that handicapped their opportunities, especially blacks who were often separated from
their families due to the institution

American Ideals Research Paper
What are the American ideals? Many people do not know what the American ideals, only to list a
few. Yet, what Americans don't realize is the American ideals expressed throughout history. But,
Americans have lived through the ideas, knowingly or not, through liberty, opportunity and
equality. Throughout American history, there are many examples of liberty showing in everyday
lives of people. In placecard 2C, liberty can be seen through the civil war. This example shows that
people are able to fight for freedom like the founding fathers designed it to be. Through placecard
2K, there is liberty through the act of assisting people. The US helps other nations recover,
protecting their liberty and the liberty of itself. Opportunity is another huge

Colonial American Idealism
When settlers came to America, they envisioned a Utopia, where they would have a say in what
the government can and cannot do. Before they could live in a new society they would have to
take many steps to break the hold England had. The settlers of America had to end a monarchy and
start their own form of government. They also had to find a way that they would be able to have
some kind of decision making power. In the development of European colonies between the
settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and then the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important change
that occurred in the colonies was the emergence of society different from that in which England
portrayed. Changes in religion (Separation of church and state), economics (Forced Mercantilism),
politics (Self Governing Community) and social structure (Head right system) illustrate this
Americanization of the transplanted European idealism....show more content...
These groups sailed over the Atlantic from their cruel lives in England to set up new peaceful
religious colonies. The only problem is that they attempted to settle in their own way and all
failed dismally. With the freedom to settle with your own set of rules much chaos between settlers
was inevitable. In the beginning the practices of religion played a large role in dictating how the
settlers judged others as well as the treatment of themselves. As Thomas Hooker stated, "Every
natural man and women is born as full of sin as a toad of poison." The religious dictatorship that
was instilled in to them prior to the colonies had greatly affected them and dictates their lives even
leading those who were innocent to burn at the stake for being a witch when they were not
following the puritans code of

Examples Of The Five American Ideals
American Ideals The 5 american ideals were created more than 200+ years ago and people still
don't respect most of them, especially equality. People all over are being killed, hurt or treated
unfairly just because of their race, sexual preference, religion, or even if they were just born a
little different than the rest of us. Equality has gotten better, we are still far from where we need to
be with equality but we are slowly moving into the right direction. In the founding documents it
talks about slavery, "slavery existed in all the colonies, slaves made up 20% of the population. Back
in 1619 the first slaves were brought to America it wasn't until president Lincoln announced the
Emancipation proclamation, which allowed slaves to have their freedom in 1863. It wasn't until
1865 that every slave was free though. Thankfully all African people were no longer slaves and had
their freedom but that did not stop hate crimes from happening against them. In the years of
1849–1950 segregation was a huge part of the U.S, African american had to use different fountains,
had to sit in the back of the bus, drink out of different fountains, go to different school, eat at
different places, etc....show more content...
board of education, the supreme court outlawed segregated public education places for blacks and
whites at the state level. The civil rights act of 1964 ended all state and local laws requiring
segregation. In 2014 there was a total of 5462 incidents that were hate crimes, more than half of
those crimes were against African Americans, 2568 of those hate crimes were against a certain race
and more than half were against African

Eamon Bailey's Vision Of An Ideal Society
The Circle is about a prestigious technology company by the same name, the main focus of which
is to reach an utopia. Eamon Bailey, one of the Three Wise Men, founder of the Circle, shares his
vision of an ideal society where all privacy is nonexistent, therefore, everyone is able to have
surveillance on everyone. Mae Holland, the protagonist, begins working at Circle and is enthralled
by Bailey's idea. Mae's mindset is similar to Bailey's; believing life will be complete once everyone
has unfettered access to everything known. "All that happens must be known" embodies Bailey's
idea to unite the world. Although Mae and Bailey believe privacy is theft, I believe it prevents
humans from changing humanity and has always beenbeen always integral

American Ideals And Values
American political and their core ideals and values, ten to start continued. Of courses, not all
Americans share the same views on everything. Along with the fact, that most Americans clearly
view political on traits of the day, along with the personal values. However, most American weather
born here or becomes American citizens, share the general ideals of liberal; democracy; justice;
equity; self–interest and living what they think is the American dream. Although, life events and our
individual experiences shape what this means to us. Most American see Liberty in the same way
our Founding father did. Liberty is meant to give American freedom to do as they wish, to have the
ability to fulfill happiness. Of course, within the banders of justices,

Ideal American Citizen Essay
The American people strive to make themselves the best version of a model citizen they can be.
Each person in America has an abundance of patriotism that keeps them from slacking from the
progress they have made in becoming honest, diligent, innovative people. All Americans work
toward those characteristics because they are what makes a person an ideal American citizen.
Honesty is one of the key qualities to being a good citizen. When a person is honest they are easy
to trust and can be counted on in times of need. An honest person is desired in every community
because they are simply good people. An American should also be diligent. In today's society
without trying hard to accomplish what a person desires to do, it is nearly impossible.

American Ideal Of Equality Analysis
The American Ideal of Equality as conceived in both the Declaration of Independence and the
Gettysburg Address is that all men are created equally, which suggests that every individual has. The
Declaration of Independence describes equality in terms of individuals' possession of the rights to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In addition, the declaration states that any form of
Government that threatens those rights should be altered or abolished with New Government
instituted. The Gettysburg address acts as an extension of the Declaration of Independence because
Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality promoted in the Declaration and redefined the
Civil war as a "new birth of freedom" that would have brought ideal equality

An Ideal American
An ideal American is not just someone who was merely born in America, but rather it is someone
who exhibits certain exemplary character traits in his everyday life. First, an ideal American
needs to be honest because a country cannot be truly united if its people are not honest with each
other. Next, he has to have integrity due to the line between savagery and altruism in a society
hanging on its people's understanding of right and wrong.Also, he has to be knowledgeable about
politics, so that he can vote effectively. A person's vote can only better America if he is truly aware
of what or who he is voting for and why. In addition, he needs to be courageous because the great
freedoms that America enjoys are not products of Americans cowering

Enlightenment Ideals
Liberty, equality, and justice–these were the enlightenment ideas that made the modern day United
States of America. They heavily influenced the progress of the American Revolution and drove the
colonists towards the initiation of the contemporary United States of America we know today. The
origins of these ideas began with French intellectuals, thus making them major influencers in this
revolution. The American Revolution ended two centuries of British rule and created the present–day
United States of America. It was due to the desire of American independence that the colonies
realized they wanted a change therefore the colonists decided to revolt. Colonists began to be
outraged by the harsh policies that the British would put on them. The

Early American Writers Ideals
There are 3 main ideals and values that early American writers found worth while to write about.
These ideals are piety, courage, and industry. The main reason that early writers thought of piety as
an important value is their religion. A majority of early Americans and the authors of just about
every work we have read were very strong in their Puritan religious beliefs.

How is the American Dream characteristic of American ideals and philosophy? What are the
differences between the materialistic and the idealistic values associated with the American Dream?
Which other readings from this semester (American or other) share some of the same concerns
/tensions?
The American dream is characterized by a person who actually gets achieve their goals in America.
It is hard for an immigrant to move to America because of the barriers they face. I would say the
American dream is to own a home, have a good job, and be economically stable. (like in the death
of a salesman the characters desire similar goals) Many immigrants move from their birthplace to
have a better lifestyle. For many years, people have rumorized that

American Ideals In The Great Gatsby Essay
The Great Gatsby Essay 2 "I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out
unequally at birth..." (pg.1) The Great Gatsby is about a man named Gatsby who is chasing an
unrealistic dream that will never come true because of materialism, class differences, and the
blinding belief in the American Dream. "In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author
wrote this story to comment on the satire of American ideals such as the American Dream and the
carelessness of the rich. Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby is to uncover the truth and satire of the
American ideals of the American Dream. In chapter 7 Fitzgerald reveals this satire when Tom refers
Gatsby to...show more content...
Like Tom had many affairs because he wanted to uncaring of how it would affect his wife and the
people around him and Daisy played with Gatsby just to make Tom jealous. They just play and
use people at will, unimpacted by their own actions and when they made a mess they just moved.
This captures the satire of the carelessness rich and the fact their morals get replaced by
materialism. They only care about money not others, they can ruin things and people and then
"retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness." Also in chapter 4, Gatsby's car is
described as, "a rich cream color." Fitzgerald describes Gatsby's car to symbolize materialism.
Gatsby's car is a yellowish color, which represents gold and riches and cars in general in the
1920's were only for the rich, who could afford it. However, in the story this very car hits Myrtle
thus killing her, by Daisy. This act in the book represents how careless wealth and materialism can
kill the people who want it the

The United States and the Ideals of Freedom Essay
Since the creation of the United States, the meaning of freedom has changed to meet changing
attitudes. Throughout our nation's history, there have been significant periods of racial, economic
and civil rights inequalities. There are different meanings for freedoms that have been established
throughout the historical period of the United States. During this modern era, the US had certain
periods of time that lived up to the ideals of freedom such as the Gilded Age. In opposition, the US
has also had periods of time where our ideals of freedom failed to meet the requirements of our
nation, a prime example being the late 1940s when the US entered the Cold War and led to the anti–
communism period of McCarthyism which ultimately restricted...show more content...
This expanded the notion of capitalism and the idea of freedom for these large industries. This would
support Foner's third dimension that companies were entitled to certain freedoms within the
workplace and beyond.
In the case of this historical era, the people that sought to enjoy the most freedom were those who
owned large industries, and received high sums of profit from their vast empires. In a sense, this
was seen as a good thing some of these "captains of industry" came from immigrant backgrounds.
Such an example is Carnegie who at a young age provided for his family and shortly after became
a hardworking and wealthy innovator. Following in Carnegies footsteps, John D Rockefeller also
came from a modest family background and worked his way up. These two examples show a
small glimpse of the economic freedom that was allowed during this time period. As Foner put it in
Give me Liberty! "These and other industrial leaders inspired among ordinary Americans a
combination of awe, admiration, and hostility... most rose from modest backgrounds and seemed
examples of how inventive genius and business sense enabled America to seize opportunities for
success" (Foner, 593). Foner's argument was based on the possibility of common wealth citizens to
work hard and rise to the top in order to reach the American dream.
Despite the United States having great ideals of freedom and exemplifying this throughout history
there have been moments where

Textbooks, teachers, and proud historians preached false facts on how America's society was
founded on ideals of democracy and equality. In reality, the truth was hidden beneath prejudice
whites and the subordinated blacks that had no voice. Those were the same blacks that shaped many
of the aspects in Americans lives since the 16th century. America's foundation was not built upon
liberty and mutual respect for all human beings, but instead upon a racial system of oppression, and
inequality constructed solely to benefit white Americans. But knowledge like this was not taught,
especially to blacks. Their educational systems constantly created deeper deception on their people,
culture, and heritage. Blacks along with other races were not being

Ideal Of The American Ideal
The American Ideal
"If approval replaced dedication as creativity's fuel, this world
Would be barren, empty, decidedly less lovely."– Jen Hatmaker In his will, newspaper publisher
Joseph Pulitzer specified that a $1,000 prize be awarded each year "for the American novel;
published during the year which shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life, and the
highest standards of American manners and manhood" (6). However, in 1917, the president of
Columbia University and Pulitzer advisory board leader Nichols Murray Butler changed the
wording of the criteria to read "the wholesome atmosphere of American life" (7); and by so doing,
limited the scope of what literature was deemed acceptable for consideration of the honor.
Subsequently, in 1921, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded to a novel about New York high
society during the 1870s and controversy soon followed. In a June 22, 1921 article in The New
Republic, one of the judges that year, literary scholar Robert Morse Lovett, wrote that the winner,
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, had not been the jury's choice (6). The panel of judges, which
included Lovett as well as a literature professor and a novelist, had instead selected Sinclair Lewis's
Main Street, a novel Lovett described using the words of his fellow juror Stuart Pratt Sherman, as
having "communicated more life to the reading public than any other novel I can recall..." (6). The
judges' decision to award the p0rize to Lewis was overturned by the

What Are Modern American Ideals
Historical and Modern American Ideals
In the speech "The Spirit of Liberty "Learned Hand says, "Liberty lies in the heart of men and
women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no
court can even do much help." I agree with Hand because if the people think they have no liberty
and can never get it they won't fight for liberty. For me to be an American means to have freedom as
a whole, equality, and justice.The most important Ideals related to being an American are equality,
freedom and justice
Someone who embodies American ideals to me means they show, speak and believes the values of
what America should be. George Washington embodies the ideals of what it is to be an American.
One example the website georgewashingtonsociety.org points out is when George said "If freedom
of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." The
quote to me is saying that if we don't have freedom in our land we are prisoners. Washington talks
equality in the draft of First Inaugural Address that is written out in the book "We Still Hold These
Truths",when he writes "I rejoice in a belief that intellectual light will spring up in the dark corners
of the earth; that freedom of enquiry will produce liberality of conduct; that mankind will reverse
the absurd position that the many were, made for the few; and that they will not continue slaves in
one part of the globe, when they can become freemen in

American Ideals Essay

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