Events that Shaped America

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RESPONSE ON POST-WAR AMERICA
After listening to the lectures prepared and posted on YouTube, I have learned that the United States that is today regarded as the world’s leading economy has gone through many changes in its history to become the nation that it is today. The reviewed lectures detail the events that shaped America. In the paper we look at America in relation to the Great War, the reconstruction of America, the Gilded Age, An American Empire, Labor and Unrest Labor and Unrest, Progressivism and Melting Pot of cultures that it is.
In the United States of America, I see a country that has thrived as a result of its progressivism philosophy. I expected America to be completely dysfunctional especially after the Great War but due to its progressive nature, it rose from the ashes to be a world leader. As implied in the progressivism reading, progressivism made reconstruction of America easy even after war.
The speaker in the reconstructing America lecture opines that from Lincoln’s second inaugural speech he talks about reconstructing America and presents that introducing freedom and stopping slavery is one of the strategies of building a post-civil war America. This is because after the war, America became a melting pot of nationalities, ethnicities and races. As a result the White Americans saw people from other races especially the blacks as undeserving since most had come to America as slaves.
However, Lincoln’s reconstruction plan after the Great war seemed difficult since he feared harsh reconstruction. The mood in the government he formed also comprised of people who did not want to end slavery and did not want freedom, so he received heavy backlash. I noticed that, the unrest in the federal government as well as congress created problems even at the executive level. Some people wanted revenge against people who had worked in government before. This happened as he was assassinated by the system in what was seen as a move to send fear to Lincoln’s government officials that yearned for a change in America.
To continue the change process that was started by Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson a Democrat took over but he was outnumbered in the senate and congress due to the unrest within. Johnson planned to be nicer and allow former federal and congress officers to do their jobs. I deduced from the progressivism vi...