Essay Example on the Second Half of American History: Democracy, Growth, Freedom

American history is divided into two halves, and each category has issues that are dominant than others. There is the first half of American history and the second half of American history. The second half of the history is major the events that took place in America in the late nineteenth century, twenty century as well as the twenty-first century. Some of the issues that have made history in the second half are the importance of democracy, economic growth and development and notions of freedom.it is important to note that in the last century till to date united states of America has been known to the most democratic country in the world. Additionally, there has been a lot of campaign for antiracism that has prevailed in the United States for several years. Therefore the main theme of the second half of the American history is advocating for human rights to achieve equality and democracy.

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The secondly half of the American history is marked by events where the topmost office in the land advocates for respects and protection of human rights without any discrimination. In other words, presidents have been featured advocating for the respect of human rights to all the residents of United States irrespective of their age, race, physical abilities, gender as well as the level of education among others. However, to protect human rights, there has been a need for cooperation in the three arms of the government. The executive and the legislature have been making laws and establishing regulations to preserve human rights. On the hand, the judiciary has continually implemented the law by ensuring all the rights entitled to an individual are protected and respected as it is stipulated in the constitutions.

For instance, President George Bush emphasized the importance of respecting human rights as well as respecting the decisions of the courts on 1st May 1992. President Bush made these remarks in his response to the violence that was experienced in Los Angeles after the release of the acquitted police officers.

The main point passed by the president was that it was okay to disagree with the court rulings however respecting the decision of the court is an obligation to everybody. In other words, nobody is immune to respecting the court verdict whether they are in their favor or against them. President Bush was prompted to make the remarks because of the lawlessness and violence that was experienced in Los Angeles. The situation had resulted in the destruction of property and attacks on innocent residents hence violating their rights.

The next point expressed by the president was that the police officers are entitled to respecting the rights of the residents, whether they have committed a crime or not. President Bush went further to condemn the police brutality that was exercised on Rodney King during his arrest in Los Angeles. The police are hard brutally beaten hence acting contrary to the rule of law. In other words, the American constitution does not allow the police to use force while arresting suspects expect when their security is threatened. It is important to note that in the second half of American history, there are many cases of police brutality, especially on the black Americans. The action is highly illegal and unacceptable, and the judiciary has been at the forefront of punishing police officers who are accused of the offense.

As stated earlier, the fight for equality and democracy has been very prevalent in the second half of the American history in several ways. For example, the blacks or rather "Negros" fought a lot for equal treatment just like the whites. During the second half, the black Americans wanted to be economically empowered, just like the whites. Several people stood out to advocate for fair treatment of the Negros.one of such individuals was Martin Luther king Jr.who felt that even after the abolishment of slavery, the Negro's were still less privileged. During Martin's speech on 16th August 1967 he mentioned that the Negro still lived as impoverished aliens in an affluent society. Martin Luther' main point was that most of the black Americans were still left behind in the economic progress being experienced in the US.

For example, according to Martin Luther King, the Negros were still underpaid, and they were perceived as second class citizens living in the US. Furthermore, the blacks led a very poor life full all sought of struggles, yet they did the hardest jobs in the processing of developing the US. According to Martin, it a time had come to improve the living standards of the blacks as well as empowering them economically. In other words, he was fighting for more employment opportunities and better payments as well as access to quality education and medication. It was a period when the blacks wanted to be treated equally as the whites in all the sectors of life. Restructuring society was one of the key events that were experienced in the second half to ensure the blacks enjoyed all the human rights just like their fellow white Americans. In other words, it was a period of liberation and equal distribution of the government wealth and resources to both the Negro societies and the white societies.

The women were also actively involved in the fight for equality and democracy during the second half of American history. It is important to note that women started participating in elections in the 20th century. It was in November 1920 that women in the United States voted for the very first time. In other words, women were actively involved in fighting for gender equality in political, social, and economic sectors.

The second half of American history has many events of women being involved in the administrative positions, which were a rare thing to find in the first half of the history. The empowerment of women is also very dominant because the women began venturing in male-dominated careers. In other words, the American women had adopted the working responsibilities in addition to taking care of their husbands and families. Additionally, women took part in promoting fairness, and to some point, it was argued that they were becoming more democratic and liberal than men.

The Republican Party was one of the parties that provided a platform for the women to venture in leadership and development of the country. For instance, in 1920, the party provided an opportunity for the enfranchised women to join the GOP column. This was one of the party's long term goal to ensure that women excelled in leadership and politics as much as the men did.

Furthermore, the working women stood up to facilitate discussion of important issues such as sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, child care, and "equal pay for equal work." That is the women campaigned for equal remuneration with the men as long as they performed equal duties. To sum it up during the second half of the American history women revolution and liberalization was key and contributed in various ways in the achievement of equality and democracy.

The economic revolution was a major component in the protection of human rights to achieve equality and democracy in the second half of American economy.in the second half of the industry the Americans' desire to work had increased tremendously. Every American wanted to work to improve their economic status. The intensity was experienced mainly among the blacks after the occurrence of the great depression in 1932. During the 1932 great depression, the majority of the black Americans had little to lose because they were poor. After that, they started working hard got involved in high paying jobs as well as businesses. This was attainable due to efforts made to attain equality in the US.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the theme prevalent in the second half of American history is the promotion of equality and democracy. Equality and democracy were achieved because Americans chose to protect and respect the human rights of all individuals living in the US. It is important to note that equality and democracy were more relevant to black Americans than white Americans. Both the government leaders as well as activists were involved in the processing of acquiring equality and democracy. In fact, the second half of American history is associated with the Black revolution and women revolution. All the above-discussed events led to the achievement of equality and democracy.