Was Colonial Culture Uniquely American? :: American America History

"Was Colonial Culture Uniquely American?" "There were never, since the creation of the world, two cases exactly parallel." Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to his son, February 22nd, 1748. Colonial culture was uniquely American simply because of the unique factors associated with the development of the colonies. Never before had the conditions that tempered the colonists been seen. The unique blend of diverse environmental factors and peoples caused the development of a variety of cultures that were mostly English, part European, and altogether original. The unique conditions, both cultural and environmental, of each colony produced a unique culture for that colony. And while each colony had it's share of groups, the mix of people and their cultures in each colony was not evenly distributed. In some colonies there was a high mix of people, while in others one group dominated. These regional differences caused the colonies not to develop one unique culture, but instead a group of distinctive cultures, each unique, and each regional. The regional differences and cultures among the colonies can be divided into four basic groups. These groups each dominated a different region, but they weren't the only group in their respective region. There were the Puritans of New England, the Quakers of the middle colonies, the Anglicans of the southern colonies, and the Scots-Irish of the Appalachian backcountry (Madaras & Sorelle, 1995). The culture of New England was one unique to New England. The northern colonies of New England were dominated by the Puritans, and settled primarily for religious reasons. The environment of New England consisted of rocky soil, dense forests, and large numbers of fish (Sarcelle, 1965). The culture that developed in New England was appropriate to such conditions. The soil, being rocky, had to be worked constantly and patiently (Sarcelle, 1965). Patience and persistence were trademarks of Puritan ethics. The lush forests provided for a shipbuilding industry , while the fish provided a source of food (Brinkley, 1995). The New Englanders became fishermen, farmers, lumbermen, shipbuilders, and traders (Sarcelle, 1965). To the south of New England were the middle colonies. There the soil was fertile, and the weather more acclimated to farming (Sarcelle, 1965). Rivers flowed west toward the frontier, enabling transportation. The middle colonies, as opposed to the relatively Puritan dominated New England, were very diverse in people. A mixture of Dutch, German, Swedes, English and other smaller groups were present in middle colonial cities such as New York (Higginbotham, 1996).

An Analysis Of Charlton Heston’s Essay Essay

The message of Charlton Heston’s speech is that there is a cultural war going on where the freedom to think and to express those thoughts in the way one believes to be right is being curtailed and that the audience, who are students of Harvard Law School who are perceived to be champions of free thought must live up to this expectation even to the point of employing the method of peaceful civil disobedience as was done by Martin Luther King. This is an appealing message to this specific audience because it played on the pride of the Harvard students of being â€Å"champions of free thought† and it serves to challenge them on living up to this expectation as stated earlier. Heston established his ethos by building on his various experiences in the movie industry, politics, civil activism and military through which he was able to establish his intelligence, character and goodwill. These are three traits which according to Aristotle builds up the credibility of a speaker (Griffin). First, he used his persona as a movie star where he related his triumph in portraying great men to his task at hand. To this effect he said, â€Å"If my Creator gave me the gift to connect with the hearts and minds of those great men, then I want to use the same gift now to re-connect with your own sense of liberty, your own freedom of thought, your own compass for what is right. † (1999) As part of the introductory paragraphs in the speech, this served to cement his credibility generally to speak not only of the subject but also on any topic for that matter. These words were uttered to achieve the effect of making his audience rise up to their supposed role as part of the prime law school in the land to be the first to lobby for the freedom of thought and expression even if it means walking the footsteps of civil disobedience like Martin Luther King. Despite the noble intentions of Heston, the students are not the appropriate target of these words. The proper audience for these would be their mentors or professors and the university’s leaders because whatever the latter’s values and principles will be cascaded to the students through the university’s curricula or teaching strategies, for example. He added significant details regarding his political and military career to deepen his credibility. He mentioned becoming president of the National Rifle Association, his association with Martin Luther King, his days in civil activism, his service during the World War II. What concretized his credibility was when he cited the event when he read to the stockholders of Time Warner and the press corps afterwards the lyrics of IceT’s song Cop Killer â€Å"celebrating the ambushing and murdering of police officers† (Heston, 1999). This led to the cancelling of IceT’s contract and the release of the album. Heston used the pathos â€Å"shame† countless times during the speech in order to challenge his audience not to tolerate their perceived social conformance. He insulted them several times to achieve this. For this he uttered the following: â€Å"Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate of American campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who’re supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?; â€Å"You are the best and the brightest†¦. But I submit that you and your counterparts across the land are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation†¦ And as long as you validate that and abide it, you are, by your grandfathers’ standards, cowards. † and; â€Å"Who will defend the core values of academia, if you, the supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, â€Å"Don’t shoot me. †(1999) The examples posed in the speech are not consistent and fully effective. For instance, the case of Antioch College in Ohio where the courtship process must have the approval and knowledge of the college; in New Jersey where doctors who are infected with HIV are not required to discuss this with their patients; the segregation of black students at the University of Pennsylvania; and the controversial forced resignation of David Howard only because he said the word niggardly during a meeting; these are examples which are given to elaborate on the curtailing of the freedom on what to think, what to say and how to express these thoughts. These evidence the â€Å"cultural war† stated in the thesis statement meant to elaborate on the problem being tackled in the speech. These are also meant to cultivate indignation on the part of the audience. The rest of the examples are not consistent with this motive, however, since they exemplify for instance respect and protection of the rights of tranvestites and transsexuals and establishing connection with Hispanic roots which are irrelevant, if not contradictory to the thesis of the speech Heston also used enthymeme as an argument to support the statement by Martin Gross that, â€Å"blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor†¦ Americans know something without a name is undermining the country, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating the truth from falsehood and right from wrong†¦ † The enthymeme was when Heston posed the premise that he thinks that â€Å"hyphenated identities are awkward† specifically Native-American. After which he said he is a Native American and even a â€Å"blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux†. It was at this juncture that he left the argument open for the audience to make their own conclusion. Charlton Heston has effectively established his ethos during the speech by banking on his relevant experiences. He also made very clear his intentions in delivering the speech. However, he did not present enough convincing logos in order to support his intentions and to move his audience to action. The appropriateness of some of his words can also be questioned. The organization of the speech can be considered exemplary in that first he used ethos to establish his credibility, then rightfully followed it with logos and then pathos in the end. Thus, over-all the speech was effective in that the speaker was able to establish his credibility well but partially ineffective because of the choice of logos and pathos.

ThePensters Buy Literature Review Paper from Ace Custom Writers!

ThePensters: We Are Ready to Take Up Writing a Literature Review for You! So, youve chosen wisely to rely on ThePensters. Our system is intuitively simple, which means you wont have to waste time trying to make out how to place a literature review writing order here. The procedure is easy as pie. First, you are supposed to make certain you are fully informed on the assignment writing instructions provided by your college professor. If you have doubts on a particular requirement related to the project, do not hesitate to visit your college tutors office to make everything clear. As youre done with that step, youre ready to proceed with the online registration at ThePensters. As was already mentioned, writing a literature review will be way easier once you give detailed order specifications. Make sure to note what academic level ThePensters writers should stick to and do not forget to set the time frame within which we must perform the task. When youre 100% sure youve given all information relevant to the literature writing, simply post your order via the se rvice web page. Once your order pops up at ThePensters, our writers come up with their bids and offer help in literature review writing. The number of bidders is not limited, which means you have an opportunity to make the right choice! Look through the list of possible writers and dont miss a chance to get familiar with the writers portfolios online. Writers profile lets you see his literature reviews writing record, informative testimonials from the customers, educational background and more. Once you find the expert youre ready to trust to, feel free to contact him. Voila! Writing a Literature Review 24*7? No Problem! Many students asking us for professional writing help are depressed by rigid assignment deadlines set by their tutors. Moreover, the majority of them are hardly aware of the subject they are supposed to work upon, and in such cases any attempt to write a paper on their own is likely to fail. Fortunately, ThePensters literature review writing experts alwayshave time, will and skills to professionally research, outline and efficiently write a solid literature review within the tightest deadline. Being highly qualified in the required area, our writers can boast of having read a huge library of both English and world literature, which means the paper they will provide you with will be definitely worthy of your literature review writing instructors praise. Just leave your request online at any time, day or night, and our team of experts will be there to help you! Buy Literature Review Paper or Get a Full Refund! We work to help you through your academic routine, and once you face a stubborn problem, were always ready to lend you a hand and provide high-quality custom writing assistance. Our writers are high-end professionals, so they value their time and effort; nonetheless, our prices are pocket-friendly and wont make you bankrupt. Moreover, we care about our customers through generous discount programs and detailed money-back policy. Should you feel that the aspects of love in John Updikes Run, Rabbit, Run are not fully dwelt upon in the paper you ordered with us, make sure to ask for free revisions, or get your money back!