Lauren's AP American Blog

Summarize: The Monroe Doctrine was a US foreign policy made by President James Monroe in 1823. It established America as an equal of European powers and, therefore, regulated that it must be treated as such. This encompassed America's desire to remain independent and free from colonization, a practice they were greatly against. Likewise, America claimed that they would not interfere with European countries or their colonies without reason. The Doctrine also highlighted the decision of America to remain neutral in European wars unless they are directly threatened. This furthered the significance of George Washington's earlier proclamation of neutrality. What was the overall message to European powers? By proclaiming the unjust nature of colonies and their decision to not partake in colonization, America revealed their protests of the act. The Monroe Doctrine also expressed the beliefs of freedom that encompassed American society in this era. One of the Doctrine's main

Summarize: Jefferson begins by addressing his new role as the sole executive official and his reservations concerning this unfamiliar position. However, he soon strives to reassure the American citizens that he will use the guidance of the agreed upon constitution to lead their country justly and equally. Throughout Jefferson's entire speech equality played a major role. In fact, Americans throughout history remember the line, "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists," as Jefferson thoroughly discredits the two major political parties that had so tremendously inhibited his first election. Jefferson also stresses the importance of unity and  "common efforts for the common good." This unity was imperative to the survival of this new and politically, geographically, and racially divided nation. By stating his worries concerning political factions as well as touching upon the danger of entangling America in foreign alliances, Jefferson echoes the farewell a

Was Christopher Columbus a hero or villain? Christopher Columbus, although he is heroic in the eyes of many imperialist Europeans, to a greater extent represents the villainous consequences Columbus had on the indigenous people of America. This is because Columbus's goal was to acquire gold and slaves for Spain. Because he could not find much of the former, Columbus spent most of his energy sailing from island to island enslaving natives. Specifically, Howard Zinn wrote, "They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with some kind of dividend," which embodies the ideas that pushed Columbus to acquire so many slaves in such a short amount of time. Furthermore, the task given to many of these slaves was to find the gold that the Europeans could not. However, this task was close to impossible as the only gold around was bits of gold dust. The pure disregard for the Native American's rights and abilities further proves how Columbus was not,