There are many concepts that involve the United States. When someone talks about the US in the 1900’s they may think of four main concepts. These are sovereignty, oppression, freedom and liberty. These can be incorporated to not only define America but also other market systems. These four concepts all intertwine within one another. Certain people in the United States had to go through oppression and they fought for liberty and freedom whether it was the African Americans or the woman that lived here. The term sovereignty could be contested due to the fact that there is no universally agreed definition. According to dictionary.com, the definition of sovereignty is supreme and independent power or authority in government as possessed or claimed by a state or community. Popular Sovereignty is a form of power that a nation state has over itself and its people. Sometimes the nation state is elected by the people and sometimes the nation state government imposes itself on the people. Most often people in a nation state have similar traditions, culture, and identity. Regardless of how the nation state gains power, usually its citizens are given certain rights.
Oppression is when a person or group of people abuse their power or social status in a burdensome, cruel or unjust manner because of prejudice against those below them. Although some female oppression still exists in many of our societies today, American woman were the first to try to overcome their oppression. The oppression that took place was psychological and basically biased and unjust towards women, but in other places of the world female oppression means physical or sexual abuse. Women had always been below men but during the 1800’s a movement had turned things around. This was around the time of anti-slavery movements as well so maybe when the women saw slaves going against their oppressors they decided to go against men too. Women rebelled because of being second class citizens and their unfair treatment by men. Two groups of women headlined the movement: National American Woman suffrage Association lead by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and the national Woman’s Party lead by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. America had many bad moments throughout the ages but they also had many good days and then came freedom. Without freedom the great nation of America would have never been founded. To understand the true principles of freedom, one must understand the scope of the word. Philosophical freedom encompasses the ability to make choices without restraints, while political freedom encompasses the ability to make choices without restraints, while political freedom is the state of being free rather than in physical confinement. Despite the importance of these ideas to our founding father, freedom has lost much of its importance in modern American society. The failure to stress the importance of freedom has diminished the quality of life for the entire American population. Positive liberty is the freedom for one to become all one can. This can be considered, in general, a totalitarian principle because leaders following this ideology often believe it is within their realm to force the citizens to become all they can be. However, this could also be considered democratic through governmental programs such as welfare, affirmative action and many other created to better society. Since our founding fathers first drafted a constitution, one of America’s core values has been liberty, without interference from the government. For the better part of two hundred years, Americans have focused on developing a fair and free democracy, in which everyone has an equal say and as many individual rights and freedoms as are possible in an effective society. Every once in a while, improving and maintaining democracy falls into the shadows, and protection what we have created becomes America’s foremost concern. We the people are now free of all the concerns that we had in the 1900’s.
In conclusion these four concepts deal with each other in some way or form and we have lived through them and now we have to embrace us to fight for our future and to make everything count towards our future. All countries have history but it’s the people who have the opportunities to change the future. Certain people in the United States had to go through oppression and they fought for liberty and freedom whether it was the African Americans or the woman that lived here. People fought through oppression to become free to have liberty and that is what they have in the United States.
Works Cited
"LEGL 4500/6500 - Employment Law." OPPRESSION. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013
"Sovereignty." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013
"What Freedom Means to Me." Definition of Freedom -. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013
BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.
Cited: "LEGL 4500/6500 - Employment Law." OPPRESSION. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013 "Sovereignty." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013 "What Freedom Means to Me." Definition of Freedom -. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013 BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.