American History

Slave power can be defined as the great social, economic and political influence that the slaveholders wielded. The slaveholders who lived in the South had far-reaching influence that affected all aspects of life. Their influence was not only over their slaves, but over society in general. Certainly, those who were slaveholders had considerably more influence than those who were not slaveholders.

Slave power had control even of the government. Slaveholders were in virtually all the offices of the government. In the federal government, the slaveholders were well-entrenched in the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The hold that the slaveholders had on political power was all-encompassing.

The slaveholders represented only a minority of the people. But their domination was a total one. In the words of Foner in Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War, Slave power consisted of the 350,000 or so slaveholders of the South  about one percent of the nations population and five percent of the Souths. These few meant to stay in power and keep slavery as long as they could.

African-American is a term that has been used to refer to Americans who owe their roots to Sub-Saharan Africa. They have, in the course of history, involved themselves in activities that are in the in their interest as a group. Such activities included pride, defiance, and fighting for human rights. The governments during these periods did not seem to be comfortable with the activities of the African Americans. Their struggle dates back to the nineteenth century in the form of political movements and deliberations. They were initially slave but when slavery was abolished in 1865, they were given every right as their white counterparts. They could vote and even occupy public offices.

The freedom struggle
The blacks, as they were called, mounted resistance against discrimination which was widespread at the time. Their struggle led to the development of the civil rights lobby group which later paved way to the second reconstruction between the 1950s and the 1960s. The struggle form civil rights led to the reformation of some legal aspects concerning the blacks but it did little in the way of addressing their poverty. The blacks formed a lobby group that was named Black Power to fill the gaps that still existed socially.
   
Blacks staged streets protests in a bid to realize social changes. The methods they mostly employed were non violent. Grassroots groups such as Montgomery Improvement Association organized freedom rides, boycotts, voter education, and sit-ins as some of the strategies of fighting towards their goals. In 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation, especially as far as public schools are concerned. Black students were victims of frequent attacks by their white counterparts, this was both verbally a number of cases of physical attack. Even after the formulation of the policy on desegregation, some schools chose to close rather than accommodate even a single black student. In some schools the few black student had to be assigned security as their lives were in danger all the time and they were left out by fellow students in almost all the things they were doing. Activists who were black were very keen on ensuring that such changes were not just limited to school but they went ahead cover all the other spheres of life. Attaining equality regardless of race was not going to be an easy thing to achieve and being a very sensitive issue its complete enforcement would require some time.
   
During this period, the blacks were not allowed to live in some places as they were designated whites only zones. The African Americans who were living in the north were subjected to much harsh conditions compared to those who lived in the south. At the beginning of 1960, President Kennedy tried to address the civil rights issues that faced the blacks though he was very reluctant in his moves. Southern democrat leader President Johnson went a long way in trying to fight for the rights of the blacks after realizing that there was a great deal of inaction. He supported demonstrations that were in protest to discrimination. By 1960 many African Americans had the power to vote.

This period of the second reconstruction, led to the changing of legal aspects that allowed discrimination as far as, voting, employment, housing, and other social vices are concerned. They managed to set up confirmatory action programs that mainly touched on employment and higher learning institutions. Activism of the blacks coupled with presidential actions went a long way in changing some of the legal aspects. The whites were not quiet pleased by the progress that the blacks made between 1950 and 1960, they did not have much to do because of the activism of the blacks and support from some of the leaders.

The great depression and the new deal
Before the beginning of the Great Depression, a booming period, known as the roaring twenties, was witnessed. In the course of the 1920s, business was booming and people worked in industries and businesses. This was just the period immediately after the First World War. Americans abandoned their farming ways and most of them opted to go to the cities. Americans earned a lot of money than they had done before. Companies increased their output as the consumption was high leading to the creation of more opportunities for employment. Many people bought cars and therefore other industries that were directly related to this business benefited. There was also a boom in the housing sector.
 
The Great Depression
Herbert Hoover took over the leadership of the United States in 1929 from President Warren Herding. Hoover was very thorough in his leadership that he tried to address various problems that Americans were facing at a go. Agriculture was one area that required urgent intervention more than any other sector of that economy. While some government agencies offered to buy the farm produce and selling them abroad on behalf of the farmers, the President did not agree to thus and instead he decided to allow the farmers market their produce themselves. Farmers were given loans by various boards and cooperatives but their condition only appeared to deteriorate. This is the same period when the stock market crashed. Consequences of the First World were also not yet adequately resolved. The government was indebted and it conveyed the same to the citizen in the form of taxes. The farmers purchasing power went low. Banks that had secured loans using mortgages were at a loss. People changed their consumption habits and limited themselves only to necessary items. Production decreased and as a result many people lost their jobs. People were left homeless.

The New Deal
Franklin Roosevelt took over the presidency in 1932. He came up with the New Deal whose objective was to aid faster recovery from the depression, provide relief assistance, and change the economic organization. He sought the assistance of businesses and banks. People wanted to withdraw their money from banks but this would lead to their collapse. The President in his wisdom closed every bank. He reassured the people that their money was safe. This marked the beginning of the recovery of the banks. He offered the youth casual jobs. He was reelected because of his work.
   
He advocated for the passing of the Act of Emergency Banking that ensured that private bankers could have access to federal loans. This was also the same time when the Economy Act which was which was concerned with the balancing of the budget by the government. This move went a long way in addressing the serious financial difficulties that the citizens were experiencing. He was also able to come up with Securities together with the act that was concerned with securities Exchange. These acts went a long way in regulating stock market which was at the brinks of collapse. To oversee all these amendments he came up with a commission that was in charge of securities together with exchange. To assist people who were loosing their homes, he came up with a corporation that was aimed at financing home owners so that their houses could not be taken but instead they would be able to repay the loan at a later date.

The works of President Roosevelt went a long way in rescuing America from the brinks of collapse. The people were very bitter with their leaders but he managed to bridge the gap and restoring the confidence of the people. This was a very trying period for Americans as more than a quarter of the population was out of employment. People who had borrowed loans from banks ended up losing their property.

The origins of the cold war
After the Second World War, two main power blocs seemed to exist. One of them was dominated by the United States of America and other Western allies who adopted capitalism while the other included the Soviet Union which preferred communism. These world powers did not engage each other in any direct confrontation instead, they adopted some way of fighting that became known as the cold war. This war was mainly through financial, martial and ideological opposition. This war lasted for almost a half a century.

Origin of the cold war
Prior to the Second World War, tension had been mounting between the Eastern bloc dominated by the Soviet Union and the Western bloc dominated by America. All these world powers had ambitions of extending their influence in as many countries as possible. The tension was worsened by the occurrences in the Second World War. The beginning of Cold War can be linked to the Russian Revolution which took place in 1917. This was a very serious civil war and the intervention of the Western powers could not do much to calm the situation. An association, known as Comintern, whose mandate was to spread communism was formed. There was suspicion and panic between Western powers and Russia. In the course of 1918 to around 1935, the United States committed itself to isolationism policy while the leader of Russia, President Stalin was mainly concerned with their internal affairs. After 1935 Stalin decided to form alliances with some Western powers to oppose the Nazi regime. This was mainly because of mainly because he feared fascism.
   
Such alliances did not seem to work to his advantage and instead he chose to sign a Nazi-Soviet deal with Hitler. This move did little in terms of pleasing the Western powers though they did not engage in any form of combat. Germany invaded France and later Soviet Union in 1941. This forced the Soviet Union to unite with Western powers that were against Hitler. This move weakened the Western Europe to the advantage of Russia and the United States who remained as the superpowers. They were together but each of them was obsessed by the thought of what they would like to be after the war. Russia, which had taken over Eastern Europe, wanted to impose their form of government and come up with soviet protectorate states. This was to secure itself from capitalist western powers. Russia assured such states, a fair election, a promise it was not able to achieve.
   
In 1945 after the Second World War, United States and its allies were pro capitalism and did not want communism to dominate. Exactly opposite was the ambition of Russia and the Eastern bloc. It was feared that the Soviet Union would attack the west. Russia feared the American atomic bomb. The Soviet Union feared that Germany would reorganize themselves and engage them in an armed conflict. America formulated a policy that was named containment. This policy was basically meant to contain communism and the Soviet Union. They wanted to stop the expansion of the Soviet Union Empire and also isolate the empire that was already in existence. In 1948 Europe had been equally divided into communism and capitalism. Germany was still a contested zone and it was divided into four portions under the occupation of the French, Americans, Russians and British. The war spread outside Europe as China adopted communism. The United States was quick to salvage Korea together with Vietnam. The superpowers did not engage each other as they were both going to suffer great damages if such a thing took place. The cold war ended in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The causes of the cold were can be linked to American dread of attack by communists. The Russians were afraid of the atomic bomb and thus could not engage America in an armed conflict. Capitalism was not fancied by Russia. Some of the activities carried out by Russians in their territory in Germany did not please the Western powers. America was very keen not to let out their secrets concerning nuclear weapons. Russia had an ambition of increasing communism in the world. Russia had no option but to ensure the security of their western boarder. Russia was expanding their territory to Eastern Europe while they had not achieved their election promises. Russia feared being attacked by America. These are some of the reasons that led to the cold war.

America, the First World War, and the Versailles peace conference   
The First World War was an armed conflict that involved the world greatest powers. These forces grouped themselves into two main groups. They were the allies and the central powers. The war started after the murder of Archduke Ferdinand, who was an heir of the Austria-Hungary throne, in 1914. He was killed by Serbians. While this might have been cited as the reason, there are a number of long term differences which ensured that the war continued. Since most of these powers had colonies, the war spread to other parts of the world. The central force was mainly composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire. The allied powers consisted of Russia, Serbia, France Japan and other countries. This period was also characterized by imperialism whereby stronger nations took over the relatively weaker states.

America in the First World War
Germans were destroying the ships that belonged to Britain. They also did the same to American vessels. Each of these sides wanted America to join their side. They were employing a number of strategies which even included propaganda. The main reasons that lured America into joining the war included the habit of Germans destroying British vessels and in a number of occasions they accidentally attacked American ships that had American civilians. A German known as Zimmerman telegrammed Mexico advising them to attack the Germans. Germans had declared the ocean around Britain their zone and promised to attack any foreign vessels. The worst incidence was when the sunk a ship known as Listuania which led to the death of 128 American nationals.
   
American President Woodrow Wilson was enraged by this action and for the first time America stated their stand of fighting the Central Powers. In 1917, the congress opposed the idea of engaging into an armed conflict. The United States decided to engage in armed conflict regardless of the view of the congress. They strengthened the allied powers and thus they played a very pivotal role in terms of changing the fate of the almost losing allied powers to winning. They applied biological and also chemical warfare in the course of their struggle. They used new weapons, such as tanks and the use of air fighters. They also applied the strategy of trench warfare. Woodrow Wilson was keen on opening the League of Nations that would be charged with the mandate of settling international disputes. The war ended in 1919 when the allied powers won. Most of the solders who lost their lives in the course of the war were Russians. This is also the time that the United States emerged as the world superpower. The currency of Germany lost their value so much that they were nearly worthless. Germany was forced to pay for the destructions they caused on the allied forces.
   
The Versailles treaty is a pact which was signed to signify the end of the First World War. Its negotiations took place in the Peace Conference held in Versailles, Paris. The negotiations begun in January, 1919. The agreements concerning the treaty were reached in June, 1919.  The agreement was to be between Germany and members of the allied powers. Germans did not attend the signing. The League of Nations had the mandate of executing the agreements of the treaties that were signed after the First World War. Germany was required to reduce its army to less than one hundred thousand. It was also required to leave all its territories along River Rhine. It was not allowed to engage itself in any buying, selling or producing weapons. Its navy was only allowed to have a maximum of 24 ships. Germany was forced to pay for all the damage that resulted as a result of the war.
   
Germany went out of cash and sunk into debts. It even had to give natural resources and their trains to pay the debts. The citizens lived in very deplorable conditions. This was later to pave way to the rise of the Nazi regime. The treaty led tom the establishment of nine countries. It also led to the revision of many boundaries.
   
This period led to the establishment of the League of Nations which was able to help resolve most of the international conflicts. The charges placed on Germany were very harsh. The treaty was not followed for a very long time as some of the nations no longer regarded it in their activities. Peace was not brought to the Germans neither did they feel any impacts of reconciliation. Germans were not happy because they were being disarmed and forced to buy war ships to the allied forces that in the process were being rearmed. They were not very weak and these are the factors that directly led to the Second World War.

This paper shall attempt to address the issue of gender as it has been portrayed and reflected upon in the Beat generation and its literature. By doing so, the paper shall attempt to achieve its purpose of identifying the contribution that the Beat culture has made to the evolution of the American society and in bringing it to its current standing.

With regard to the commonly considered perspective that questions that Beat attitudes toward gender and seeks to identify whether they differ from those of American society in general at the time, it is apparent that the beat attitude towards gender differs greatly from that which prevails in the modern day American society and is one in that seems to be in adherence to the perceptions of the American woman during the Beat days (Campbell). Women in the Beats generations literature continue to appear in what can best be referred to as infrequent supporting roles to men. The literature is dominated by men and their hip style. The suaveness appears to be restricted to men and women only come in as an element of decoration, an instrument used to entice, a sideshow meant to serve to the main plot the same purpose that the comic relief serves to the stage.

Furthermore, with regard to the Beat culture as it existed in adherence to or in compliance with the common social ideas of that era, the beat generation and the beat literature did anything but express common social ideas of the era. In fact, they chose to go in opposition to the passive silence of the nineties. There was hardly any momentum left for an aggressive addressing of social norms after the Second World War and that is exactly what the Beat generation and its literature provided to the
American society (Johnson and Grace).

If one was to consider whether or not Beat writings prepared the way for new approaches and attitudes to gender, then judging by the literature and the rebellion that it holds, it would be fair to consider that while the role of the women in Beat literature was what can be classified as passive aggressive, it was undoubtedly one that served to shape the frame of mind for future generations regarding gender issues. This is because of the fact that the Beat generation and literature did not simply come forth as a rebellion to traditional and social norms, but as a question against them (Johnson and Grace). A question that demanded answers and induced the positional needed to bring about a change.

However, it is imperative to note that this attribute is one that applies to nothing more than the presence of women in Beat literature. The role of women, on the other hand, is one that is undeniably significant. The position of women in beat literature is one that serves to provide the essential element of revolt and rebellion (Stephenson). Therefore, it would be fair to surmise that the beat record on gender roles is fundamentally one that is aims to set women free in society. Liberty and the right to a chosen lifestyle became symbolic demands for women under the Beat generation.

However, there is no doubt a definite confusion in the Beat generation. The most prominent and clear example of this confusion can be found in the works of Judith Butler and Betty Friedan, both of which presented concepts of gender roles that were in stark opposition to one another (Johnson and Grace).
It can be surmised from the above discussion that the Beat generation and its literature did indeed serve to bring about a considerable change in the commonly prevalent and accepted norms of the American society following the late fifties. The changes in the perception of gender roles that took place in the American society can be justly accredited to the Beat generation and the literature that came forth as a product of the rebellious and questioning culture that it constituted.

The Vietnam crisis had been gathering momentum since the early 1950s and American involvement had started in the 1940s and kept on increasing over the years. By 1965, the war escalated as President Johnson began a massive bombing campaign against North Vietnam. At this time, the antiwar movement established its roots as more groups who were opposed to the war became more vocal. The American vocabulary saw the emergence of such terms like counter culture,  establishment, nonviolence,  pacification, free love, Kent state and Woodstock which were associated with the antiwar movement. This was the beginning of the hippie age group, sexual upheaval and the drug culture. The countrys youth who were the major casualties in the war began to demand explanation for American involvement in the war. They demanded to know why peace talks were not succeeding and what they were fighting for.

The antiwar movement comprised independent groups who were only united by the opposition to the war. The introduction of the draft led to student protest on college and university campuses all over the country. Teach-ins and student movements like the students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized rallies and marches to protest against the war as from 1965. Before 1964, the SDS was mainly concerned about domestic issues affecting the American youth and even actively supported the Johnson administration. At the beginning of the Johnson administration, they avoided any antiwar rhetoric to avoid alienating the president and put the Great Society programs in jeopardy.
   
By the end of 1965, the antiwar movement had gathered on campuses but just lacked a catalyst to bring wider public participation. The opportunity was provided by the escalation of the war in 1965 as the air strikes against North Vietnam were initiated. This increased the pace and scope of the protest as from February 1965.  For the next couple of years, the antiwar movement snowballed as more and more people opposed the war including celebrities, activists and musicians. The students formed the Inter-university Committee for public hearing on Vietnam which organized teach-in demonstrations which were widely aired around the country. This helped to publicize the antiwar ideas and reduce the support to the war. The antiwar demonstrations by students were instrumental in influencing the governments decision to withdraw from the war. Although the protest sometimes turned tragic, they helped to bring out the opinions of the youth in the American society.

War Effects
As the antiwar movement ideals spread across the society, doubts about the continued escalation of the war also began to emerge in the administration itself. Several high ranking officials who were opposed to the war were fired including the Defense Secretary McNamara who had expressed reservations about the moral basis of the war. The opposition within the administration had increased within the administration and the presidents party. This was exacerbated by the 1968 presidential election as several candidates emerged to oppose the president within his party. When the president realized that his close advisors opposed the war, he withdrew from the Democratic nomination.  In the subsequent election, the republicans emerged victorious through Richard Nixon who had promised a secret plan to end the war.
   
Vietnam War led to the development of the counterculture among the American youths. This was an alternative society founded on peace, love and freedom. The adherents of this culture opposed violence and the war and was symbolized by sex, drugs and the protestations. The group was known as the hippies and was mainly young people who condemned greed, convention and authority. They mainly listened to rock music, maintained long hair and took to drugs and sex. The peak of the counterculture was the Woodstock Festival when people gathered to celebrate peace and love. The counterculture was mainly an alternative to the American traditional society. The war also impacted on the general society as people lost the family members who were killed in the war. The war also adversely affected the poor members who were prone to conscription as the middle class society was exempted.

The progress of Negroe freedom in America since the end of revolution to the early nineteenth century owe a lot to the entire works of U.S president Thomas Jefferson. Over time, Jeffersons commitment to end slavery in America has received mixed reactions among various people across the globe. Some have adored his commitment to end slavery while others have criticized this commitment terming it as mere hypocrisy given that some aspects of his life proved otherwise. Since the 1700s, Jefferson writings have solely been the basis for all issues involving slavery and Negroes freedom in America until the nineteenth century. From policy formulation, to scholarly work, to human rights organizations work regarding slavery, Jeffersons only book Notes on the state of Virginia and his other writings have been the reference point, assuming a great influence as people read and react to the ideologies he put forward. His work came at a time when the slavery business had proved promising to the American salve traders and that the institution was lawfully supported. Being a states man, Jefferson succeeded in giving an in-depth insight to the ideologies seeking to condemn attitudes towards slavery and these ideologies have been of paramount importance in the study of slavery in America.

The issue of racial discrimination has been as scary as very in America. Since time immemorial, Americans have always held the opinion that Negroes are and will in no way be equal to the Whites. In the 1600s for instance slave trade was at its peak and the government then did all it could to separate the Negroes from the Whites. Negroes have ever been discriminated at all circles despite the efforts of human rights groups to stop the trend. Even in the midst of the influential works of Thomas Jefferson, negative racial ethnicity has been a subject that seems far from being resolved in America. In South America for instance there was intense Negros discrimination at the time of World War I. In a September 8th 1858 speech, President Lincoln, asserted that Negroes were in no manner and will never be equal to the whites and put it that he was not intending to install the slightest equality between the whites and Negroes saying that there existed an enormous physical difference between the two races which forbid their interaction. Lincoln though indicated that Whites superiority should not deny the Negroes everything and by this he said that, it seems to me quite possible for us to get along without making either slave or wives of Negroes.
   
In an 1862 response to Greely, Lincoln stated his stand concerning slavery which brewed controversy among the proponents of emancipation. Though he stated his constitutional obligation to maintain equality, an assessment of his performance in office by Greely indicated that he never kept to the obligation he had stated in his editorial. His stand on slavery though was evident from his view, If I could save the union without freeing any slave I would do it. The question of racial inferiority of the Negroes has been furthered by almost very literary work in the U.S with many basing on certain natural factors to justify this claim. In Of National Characters, David Hume associates the climatic conditions and the location of the Negroes origin Africa, to be the cause of physical and mental inferiority of the Negroes. He goes ahead to support these claims by saying unlike other barbarous white communities such the early Germans, Negroes lack any eminent thing associated with them in history not education, not arts, nor even civilization. He admits though to the fact that Negros easily distinguishes themselves in any venture they get in.

A 1798 Negros entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica describes Negroes as a distinct race not in any close to other races. This article describes ugliness and irregularity of shape as a feature of Negroes and associates them with every vice on planet earth and argues that Negroes lack a conscience. This is just an evidence of whites perception of the Negroes which has been the basis for utter discrimination of Blacks by the white community. It has been worrying to find the work of the elite of the white community enhance racial discrimination by their rather offensive characterization of the blacks. As Jefferson noted, this perception has been inherited by generations ever and thus have made racism to be persistence. Actions by most elite such s the Governor William Harrison have furthered racism as is evident from an 1803 letter he wrote explaining how he would do very thing even if it meant repressing the Indians to maintain the unity of the whites states.
                         
Jefferson stood his ground amidst the then America culture and his work has contributed to culture change and is considered as a voice that instilled an important turn of events in the cultural arena of America even though some people have criticized his conclusions. He wrote that even though there may be physical differences between the whites and the Negroes they ought to be allowed to have their freedom as they are not under any ones obligation. Jefferson regarded the slavery as abominable and an immoral practice that is incompliant to the natural rights of individuals. He perceived slavery as denying the Negroes their natural rights to pursue happiness, liberty and life. He asserted his perception and abhorrence for slavery in the only book he published Notes on Virginia and other private and public writings in which he refers to slavery as a great moral and political evil.  He once wrote in an encyclopedia entry for The United States that humans are the most incomprehensible and stupendous in a bid to express his loathsomeness for slavery. He severally referred to the law and will of God as condemning slavery. Regarding the unjust association between slaves and their master, he writes in his Notes on Virginia as,

A perpetual exercise of the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it for man is an imitative animal. . . . The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to his worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals underrated by such circumstances Jefferson could not demonstrate his condemnation for slavery any better than seeking to form and enforce policy that would see the emancipation of slaves. In his works, he based his argument on the fact that very one was born free and he worked tirelessly to get this message across to his peers in congress. 

Jefferson works came at a time when everything possible had been done specifically by the government to legalize and promote slave trade. In 1962 for instance, the government ha passed a law that distinguished a slave and a free man based on mothers race. Also in 1723, a law was enforced that denied any master the right to free a slave even through a last testament or will. Jefferson then perceived slavery as a failure to observe Gods will of liberty and freedom and asserted this believe when he wrote in his Notes on Virginia that, with what execration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and these into enemies, can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of god That they are not to be violated but with his wrath Indeed I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just that his justice cannot sleep for ever . . . The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest

Through varied works, Jefferson has been credited with all the enviable developments that have to date continued to ensure the provision of freedom to the Negroes. He set the stage for emancipation of slaves in 1769 when as a member of the Burgesses Virginia House, was involved in the formation of the Manumission by deed which sought to denounce the 1723 slavery law. The bill which he singed into law gave slave masters the authority to free slaves through a last will in which a master could transfer property interest in a slave through deed back to the slave and thus emancipating himher. While practicing law, he asserted for the freedom of slaves by indicating that all people were born free. Such as in the case of Netherlands Howel V. He was instrumental in drafting the two constitutions that sought to eliminate slavery in America. The 1776 draft went No person hereafter coming into this county shall be held within the same in slavery under any pretext whatever. Like the 1776 draft, the 1783 draft further asserted this decision to stop slave trade. In the later draft he wrote,

The General assembly shall not have to power to ... permit the introduction of any more slaves to reside in this state, or the continuance of slavery beyond the generation which shall be living on the 31st day of December 1800 all persons born after that day being hereby declared free.  
In the federal congress, he wrote the report on the western Territories government which stated that after the Christian era of 1800, no one would be enslaved in the entire United States unless following punishment for which one was convicted guilty of an offense. Jefferson lamented over the deletion of the slavery abolition bill following a one vote defeat.

Written in 1781, Notes on Virginia is the voice of Jefferson which has continued to condemn slavery among the world community. Driven by neutrality, Jefferson wrote it while still governor to assert equality among different races. He advocated for the rights of the Negroes slaves who were highly discriminated at the time. John Adams confirmed this in his works on slavery by referring to Jefferson works as worth more than diamonds and that it had an immense impact than books written by other mere philosophers. The post revolutionary period witnessed enormous changes regarding the attitudes held by Americans on slavery. With time, a number of Americans began to see the reality that Negroes as well could excel in any venture just like the Americans did. This change of attitude could not have possibly occurred had Jefferson not assumed the responsibility of condemning slave trade which before then did not seem by abominable. Jeffersons ideology and attitude has influenced and revoked many human rights movements and debates at both government and civilian levels that have since then been instrumental in establishing equality among the American communities. Jordans analysis of Jeffersons work creates the notion that slavery in America could only be solved not by policy but by individual commitment. Jeffersons work though, sparks controversy with some claiming that he lived a lie given that he owned slaves himself leave alone fathering a son with a slave girl. According to Jordan, Jefferson was in part voicing what had already been proposed by some other people such as John Loche who had outlined the need for freedom a century earlier. Jordan provides a clear picture that the status of slavery in America could have been effectively solved had Jefferson done more to avoid flaws and compromises. For instance he instituted some harsh codes on slavery that contrasted his call for life and liberty of the slaves. Jefferson relationship with Sally Hemming has received much criticism by those who are skeptical of his works and who feel that Jefferson was living a lie. To some extent he failed to set the right momentum for abolition in that having succeeded in passing the manumission laws, he failed to take advantage of them as he freed only seven out of close to forty slaves he owned as adult.

The situation of slavery in America is thus seen to be a question of action and not just policy formulation. Jefferson succeed in passing the slave abolition laws but was not instrumental enough in enforcing them thus explaining  the reason why even after the manumission law was passed most slaves still had no liberty. Frederick Douglas writes of July Four as a mere illusion to the Negroes as they still had not realized this liberty and life Jefferson brought forward in his drafts.

Despite criticisms, Jefferson remains to be one single person who has contributed a lot to the foundation of the institution of racial rights in America. Later works of other American presidents show that the institution of slavery was still not completely abolished as for example the America went ahead to colonize the African states in the 20th century. The influence that Jefferson impacted is a clear indication the he was the single person through the equality principle in the Declaration for Independence to have devotedly sought to abolish the institution of slavery. Its hard to figure out how slavery and racism would be like in America today had Jefferson not set ablaze the fire of liberty.

The deaths of the popular American gay writers William S. Burroughs, Herbert Huncke and Allen Ginsberg cannot be deemed as the end of the Beat Generation which is considered as the most influential literary movements in the history of the country as such their influence is still very evident in todays poetry.
    Beat Generation is a group of American writers who came to prominence during the 1950s which basically tackles issues about experimentation with drugs, sexuality and other social implications which are less given importance by some of the conservative writers of the said generation (Campbell 2001).
    One of the classic examples of the works of the Beat Generation is the poem Howl by Allen Ginsberg which is best considered as the poem of mental hospitals, jails, secret and overt gay sex, drug taking and transcontinental Bohemian fervor for it opened the mind of the people to these pressing issues in the American society during his time (Ginsberg 1959). 
    The poem tackles human discontent, despair, morality and social ills. Ginsberg perfectly discusses in his poem the freedom from sexual repression and traditional behavior, recreational use of drug, rejection of authority and censorship. In his poem, he persuaded the mind of the people by using irony in his statement that he saw the best mind of his generation. However, the people that the author is referring to as the best mind are the people who have rotten minds and mad consciousness whom he met along his journey in the jail, mental hospital and streets.
    During Ginsbergs time, issues on homosexuality, drug addiction and censorship were kept secret by every people for these are not discussed openly in the public. The society reserved to be traditional and conservative with these issues. However, nowadays, censorship is evident in the society people are not allowed to talk against the government. Moreover, people cannot discuss concerns that are against the moral standard of the society. Through the publication of Ginsbergs poem, nevertheless, people came out of their closet and had the courage to talk about these sensitive issues as the poem opened their minds about the realities in life. Ginsberg successfully educated them through his poem that homosexuality, drug addiction and censorship are parts of human existence. Through the poem, facts about these issues were revealed and brought into realization.
    Furthermore, Ginsbergs Howl is considered as a perfect manifestation that Beat Generation is still evident in the works of the other writers after the prominence pf the Beat Generations poets. Many writers were being influenced to write about sensitive issues like homosexuality, insanity and drug abuse. One of the typical examples of a writer during the 1980s who was influenced by the Beat Generation is Robert Duncan who wrote the poems Poems from the Margins of Thom Gunns Moly, These Past Years Passages 10, My Mother Would Be a Falconress and The Torso, Passages 18.
    These poems of Duncan are only some of the poems that emerged right after the writers of the Beat Generation broke the conservativeness of the American literature. Duncans poems are indeed a great parallelism of Ginsbergs Howl as such the Duncans poems also tackle about homosexuality. All of these literary pieces had successfully revealed the creativity of the writers in bringing the issue of homosexuality to the people without the hesitations of being tagged as malicious and immoral.
    And through the courage of these writers from the birth of the Beat Generation up to the present time, many writers have realized that the issue on homosexuality an drugs can be also used creatively and freely through the intricate and beautiful language of poetry. The footprints of the Beat Generation will remain an indelible etch in the American history up to the present time for its poetry does not only reveal gay writers emotions but it also tackles social and political implications of America. 

The Sixties was marked of massive unemployment and poverty. The people of America are demanding for economic justice. Americans are calling for social change.
People are caught up in the culture of protest  against poverty, unemployment, racial injustice, and against the Vietnam War. 1968 was described as a tumultuous year for America. Is it because of the rallies, picket, strikes, and sit-ins emerging around America These are the succeeding events that left scar to America.
January 31 The Tet Offensive. During the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration, the North Vietnamese troops launched a massive surprise attack throughout South Vietnam. Tet marked a major turning point in every American citizens perception of the war and how it is being fought. The majority of Americans has trouble believing that the war was being won.
March 31 President Lyndon B. Johnsons announced that he will not be a candidate to the presidential race. His popularity kept dropping as the Vietnam War continued.
April 4 Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down. Martin Luther King Jr. has led the civil rights movement with peaceful methods. But his death precipitated a new wave of violence. Soldiers crushed the riots in Washington D.C. and other cities. Hundreds of people were killed or injured.
June 5 Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated after winning the Democratic primary election in California.
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August 26-29  The Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The Democrats were the Party in power. The Vietnam War was the major issue. Protests against the war in Vietnam were aimed at them. Thousands of anti-war demonstrators gathered in the city of Chicago during the political convention. The delegates attending the convention were divided over the Vietnam War and other issues. The debacle in Chicago had three consequences  the prospect for victory was damaged and the democrats were more divided than ever.  The Convention was notable for its bloody riot. Police arrested over 500 demonstrators and injured more than 100 demonstrators. Eight people were indicted for violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968.
Nov 5 Presidential Election Richard Nixon won.
These events in 1968 were described to be chaotic  riots are everywhere in America, disturbing the peace and order. But these events should be contextualized to the social illness gripping America in 1968. 
What happened in 1968 was a rising social unrest  broader in scope, larger in size and greater in frequency compared to the demonstrations in previous years. Growing public discontent grips the American people.
1968 was the height of social unrest. Millions of Americans sympathized and participated in these protests because they were aware of the social ills in their society, aware of their rights, and critical to the foreign policy of America.  They demanded for economic justice and social change. But their demands was not heard, thousands of American people were harassed, injured, prosecuted and killed fighting for their beliefs and fighting for their rights.

One major similarity between the 1920s and the 1980s was the turmoil coming out from the previous decade. People living in the 1920s came out of World War I (1914-1918) and while those in the Eighties were coming out of Watergate (1974), a nationwide gas shortage (several years) and the Iran Hostage Crisis (1979). People wondered what the next ten years would bring.
    Having ideological troubles abroad continued through both decades. During the 1920s, Germany and its allies were defeated but not broken. It would take another decade before the Germans would pose a bigger threat, but nobody rigorously oversaw the country after the peace treaty from the First World War was signed.
President Ronald Reagan had related problems with the Soviet Union decades later. Both sides demonstrated their nuclear abilities to the other during the 80s. Reagan bankrupted his nemesis by outspending the Soviet Union in building weapons. When the Soviet government realized it could not keep pace, they brokered peace.
Another point between these decades was scandals. The Savings and Loan controversy of the late 1980s led to the downfall of several banks, the life savings of its investors, and the arrests of many executives. Purchases were status symbols and proof of ones worthand that led to false security.
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    Just like the 1980s, people in the 1920s spent without consequence. Scandal in businesses led to a fake hopeand a massive punishment for the country. People like Joseph Kennedy, Al Capone and J.P. Morgan made huge profits for themselves by deceiving its shareholders and customers. While it was not against the law at the time, it was considered poor business practice.
    The result of these businessmen doing an end-around the rules led to the collapse of the American economy at the end of both decades. The Great Depression lasted for several years with the lasting images of long bread lines and longer lines for jobs. Hebert Hoover, who was elected president in 1928 as the economy was turning sour, was replaced after one term by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932.
Another similarity George H.W. Bush was replaced by Bill Clinton after one term in 1992. Bush was famous for his, Read my lips no new taxes pledge that he reneged on, but he also oversaw the economy go into a freefall once Regan left office. The economy went into recession, unemployment soared and people who purchased everything in the 1980s either sold it back at reduced prices or gave them up altogether.
Not only were the outgoing presidents gone after four years, but Hoover and Bush were also Republicans. They believed that businesses should attempt to make as much moneyprofit as they could with little or no regulation from the government. Both men failed because the companies got rich off the backs of everyone else. When the bubble burst, everyone had to bear the burden of putting the countryand the economy in particularback together. (Pohnpei)
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One other lighter note was the issue of dating. People looked at the way the opposite sex viewed each other differently. In the 1920s, there were group dancing parties and the opportunity to meet people and see who might be available. The invention of the automobile made it easier for two people to get to know each other more intimately.
Decades later, it would be considered to be less of a challenge meeting someone. There were not a set of rules andor chaperones present to set up guidelines and ensure that they were followed by both parties. Because of the presence of contraception, it make the possibility of pre-marital sex likely than in decades past. That is not saying it was encouraged or condoned, just more of an option. (1999)
For the most part, the 1980s and 1920s saw good years in the beginning of the respective decades that turned nightmarish as the years ended. Prosperity and a sense of good would eventually turn into a bubble-bursting reality check for everyone.
Right now, the country is going through a recession after the housing market crashed and Wall Street saw executives accept large bonus checks while their employees were left without a pension, retirement or even a job. How the economy bounces back will determine whether the 2000s will be remembered as the two decades in question are.

 The Vietnam War was one of the debacle  militarily and politically for the USAs policy in Asia. The collapse of South Vietnam, the US ally against the aggressive and disciplined North was possibly inevitable as the counter insurgency strategy of the US miserably failed. Former President Richard M. Nixon argued that the US was winning the war in Vietnam but we lost the war politically in the United States.  Such argument was perhaps a sort of face saving statement from politicians such Pres. Nixon.  Event in Vietnam however showed a different picture. In a report of General Westmoreland to CINCPAC dated June 13, 1965, he asserted that there is no doubt whatsoever that the insurgency in South Vietnam must eventually be defeated among the people in the hamlets and towns.  This a clear indication that the Vietnam war was a non-conventional war and that the US was engaged in two fronts.  One defending the border against a frontal assault from the North and the second which was more difficult, defending the South Vietnamese government from its people (Gettleman).
General Wetmoreland, further clarified in the report that security from the guerilla, the assassin, the terrorist and the informer could only be possible if the South Vietnam government could make real progress and succeed in securing against the identified internal threat. Further the general was cognizant that the conflict in South Vietnam is essentially a civil war within the country (Gettlemann). 
From the same report, it was apparent that the US presence has no clear mandate. Unlike in Europe where there was a clear cut military, security and political agreements for mutual protection, the US commitment in Vietnam and he noted that the US have never had a treaty commitment obliging us to the South Vietnamese people or to a South Vietnamese government. The General also noted that the North Vietnamese forces are then maneuvering large forces to provide support for its regiments complete with heavy weapons. Apparently as early as 1965, the American involvement in Vietnam was already a lost cost. The Tet Offensive, a series of surprise attacks launched in January, 1968 and coordinated by North Vietnam, though a military failure had exposed that the optimistic projections of the hawks in Washington was essentially a myth and that the South Vietnamese could never by itself be able to defend against the onslaughts from within and from without. General Westmorelands assessment after the Tet Offensive that to defeat the hostile forces of the North and its insurgency forces in the South would require an additional 200,000 American soldiers and activation of its reserve forces, the public opinion in the US homeland swayed passionately against the US presence in Vietnam (Tet Offensive).
    History thus have shown that the Vietnam War was in reality an unjustified engagement based on weak premises of preventing the spread of communism in Asia.  It cost the lives of thousands young Americans in a battlefield which they never did understood and pitted an enemy unrecognizable from the people they were told to protect. Subsequent withdrawal of forces and letting South Vietnam handle its security arrangements after the 1973 Paris Peace Accords were signed had in effect sealed the fate of Vietnam  to eventual reunification under the North (The Vietnam War).
    While engagements in a foreign soil may have been justified under a condition wherein national security of the US is for example compromised and that real threat exist, the case of American presence in Vietnam had no real justification. The justification of saving people from a perceived evil threat such as communism would ultimately crumble given the reality that the Vietnams history was muddled in the history of colonialism, first the French then the entry of the USA.
    While the strong anti-war sentiment in the US was indeed a factor in national and foreign policy of the US, it was not the main factor of the American Vietnam debacle.  The major factor remained with the disposition of the Vietnamese people and the resolution of that countrys political affairs would ultimately be decided according to internal factors.  Even the might of the American military and its political clout would have no real influenced if its used is misplace and not founded on real and valid reasons.