History Essay - Move to America
Jonathan Z. Mougharbel
Professor Maddock
History 312 – TuTh 10:30-11:50
19 March 2013
The East to West Revolution – Settlement of the Colonies People often say things about how the United States, with its revolutionary political and economic system, must have been around for a long time in order to achieve the world standing it holds today. This isn’t the case though. In fact, when compared to great civilizations like the Roman Empire which lasted almost 12 centuries, many would say that the United States is still in its infancy. Much in the same way, the political and economic systems the U.S. is famous for are seen to be derived from past civilizations as well. But this of course leads us to asking the inevitable questions of where did it all begin, and what caused people to settle here in America of all places. In order to answer this however, we have to look back past explorers and crusades. Past the kings, uprisings, revolts, and trade routes. We must go back in time to the Roman Empire itself, specifically in the year 476 BCE; the time when everything was falling apart in Rome. We all know the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and much in the same way one could say that it didn’t end in a day either. It was a major power at the time with a full scale economy, a concrete political system, and a seemingly stable infrastructure. The fall of this empire, be it from the power struggles between the Emperor and the Senate which ended up bringing about the phrase “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, the decline in morals which led to the view of romans as being a lewd society, the rapid growth of the empire which created an ever growing need to protect the borders of the empire, the failing economy due to the cost of defense spending and the constant amount of gold being lost to other empires via trade, or the constant attacks of the barbarians who were continually getting stronger and more accustomed to Roman military tactics, taught
Professor Maddock
History 312 – TuTh 10:30-11:50
19 March 2013
The East to West Revolution – Settlement of the Colonies People often say things about how the United States, with its revolutionary political and economic system, must have been around for a long time in order to achieve the world standing it holds today. This isn’t the case though. In fact, when compared to great civilizations like the Roman Empire which lasted almost 12 centuries, many would say that the United States is still in its infancy. Much in the same way, the political and economic systems the U.S. is famous for are seen to be derived from past civilizations as well. But this of course leads us to asking the inevitable questions of where did it all begin, and what caused people to settle here in America of all places. In order to answer this however, we have to look back past explorers and crusades. Past the kings, uprisings, revolts, and trade routes. We must go back in time to the Roman Empire itself, specifically in the year 476 BCE; the time when everything was falling apart in Rome. We all know the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and much in the same way one could say that it didn’t end in a day either. It was a major power at the time with a full scale economy, a concrete political system, and a seemingly stable infrastructure. The fall of this empire, be it from the power struggles between the Emperor and the Senate which ended up bringing about the phrase “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, the decline in morals which led to the view of romans as being a lewd society, the rapid growth of the empire which created an ever growing need to protect the borders of the empire, the failing economy due to the cost of defense spending and the constant amount of gold being lost to other empires via trade, or the constant attacks of the barbarians who were continually getting stronger and more accustomed to Roman military tactics, taught