Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

Detailed Summary of American Studies, Study notes of History

Detailed summary and timeline with proper dates of all incident occurred. American Studies

Typology: Study notes

2018/2019

Available from 10/12/2021

anilgoyal1
anilgoyal1 🇮🇳

5 documents

1 / 10

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
American Studies – Landeskunde
1. Geography and Economy
Physical Regions od the United States
Contemporary cultural regions
- Orange region
- Yellow subregion
John Gast: American Progress (1872) Painting
- Big territory fight against distance Straight line Borders no matter the surface
- Drive towards the west (great need for mobility)
- Many differences between states culture and city / rural area
- Suburbs much larger than in Europe
- Hurricans go far North/South bc. The mountains are N/S
Economy in the US used to be the biggest now its China
Conservative ppl in the south uneducated and more poor areas
2. History to 1898
When does US History begin?
- 1492: Discovery of America by Columbus -> already 10 Mio ppl
- 1776: Declaration of independence
- 1789: Constitution of the United States
- 1619: First African slaves to America
History and the Past are not the same story depends on who is telling it, what perspective
Most important events from the perspective of:
American Politics:
o Puritans: Pilgrim Fathers religious freedom
o New colonies on a newly discovered continent, early colonists 1600 (Jamestown)
o Mayflower compact
o Boston Tea Party: 1773
o John Winthrop: shining city upon a hill (guide, destination)
o War of independence/revolutionary war: 1775-1783
pf3
pf4
pf5
pf8
pf9
pfa

Partial preview of the text

Download Detailed Summary of American Studies and more Study notes History in PDF only on Docsity!

American Studies – Landeskunde

1. Geography and Economy

Physical Regions od the United States

Contemporary cultural regions

  • Orange – region
  • Yellow – subregion

John Gast: American Progress (1872) – Painting

  • Big territory – fight against distance → Straight line Borders no matter the surface
  • Drive towards the west (great need for mobility)
  • Many differences between states – culture and city / rural area
  • Suburbs much larger than in Europe
  • Hurricans go far North/South bc. The mountains are N/S Economy in the US used to be the biggest – now its China Conservative ppl in the south – uneducated and more poor areas

2. History to 1898

When does US History begin?

  • 1492: Discovery of America by Columbus - > already 10 Mio ppl
  • 1776: Declaration of independence
  • 1789: Constitution of the United States
  • 1619: First African slaves to America History and the Past are not the same – story depends on who is telling it, what perspective

Most important events from the perspective of:

American Politics:

o Puritans: Pilgrim Fathers – religious freedom o New colonies on a newly discovered continent, early colonists 1600 (Jamestown) o Mayflower compact o Boston Tea Party: 1773 o John Winthrop: shining city upon a hill (guide, destination) o War of independence/revolutionary war: 1775- 1783

o George Washington: first President o Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of independence

African Americans:

o Slavery: 1619 o Abolishing of slavery: 1862 ( 1865 ) o Segregation o Qual rights for former slaves: 1972

Native Americans:

o 9000 b.c. o 7 - 10 Mio ppl before Columbus arrived in the Bahamas o 1830: Indian removal Act

Foundational Texts:

  • 1779: Constitution
  • 04.07.1776: Declaration of independence
  • 1803: Louisiana purchase (Rocky Mountains – New Orleans)
  • 1830: Indian removal act
  • 1862: emancipation proclamation: slaves are free
  • 1863: Gattysburg address – speech during American civil war
  • 1620: Mayflower Compact – establishing own government, allegiance to the crown still

Founding Fathers

➔ Those who signed the Declaration of independence and drafted the constitution (Signers and Framers/developers)

  • Thomas Jefferson
  • George Washington
  • Alexander Hamilton
  • Benjamin Franklin

War of Independence

  • 1812 - 1815: US vs. Britain (independence, rights to vote)
  • Survival of US as one Country

Civil War

  • 1861 - 1865: North vs. South (free states, republicans, for abolishing slavery)
  • Northern victory
  • 1861: confederate states – gilded era (looks golden but isn´t)

Precedent of George Washington

  • Left office after 2 terms – first to do so
  • Left office in 1797 ➔ Now as a constitutional commandment

Thirteenth Amendment (change in the Constitution)

  • Abolishing of slavery
  • 14 th: equal rights to former slaves
  • 15 th: right to vote for all male citizens
  1. History after 1898 (to 2000)

Supreme Court decisions and constitutional Amendments

  • 1920: 19th^ amendmenrt: Women can vote (women´s sufferage)
  • US history as success → people need something to identify with
  • Building Identity purposefully by picking something specific

Interpretation of History helps constructing Identity

➔ How do we see ourselves?

  • The past helps us create a future
  • The new colonies as an example for the world (Europe is corrupted - > American exceptionalism)

American Monuments and their symbols

  • Statue of liberty: nation of immigrants, land of the free
  • Christopher Columbus Statue
  • National Mall → 3,5 km between Lincoln memorial and US Capitol with white house (governmental buildings) ➔ Teach us values/myths of a certain time, can´t can´t be neutral (highlight publicly that black people don´t have the same rights) ➔ Reperation – compensation of an injustice of the past (war)

History as a tool to create power structures

  • Those who have the power tell the history
  • History changes depending on who is telling it
  • Learn about history to understand the present, create the future Monuments in order to honor someone
  • Acknowledgement
  1. Religion and Civil Religion ➔ Civil Religion has nothing really to do with God - > connected to Politics ➔ Is dealt like religion but isn´t one by itself ➔ 80% of American believe in God (only 60% in Germany)

2014 Pew Research on Religions

  • 71% Christians (JFK first Christian President, no direct orders from Pope)
  • 2% Jewish
  • 1% Muslim
  • 23% unaffiliated – no identity with one specific religion Denominations within the Christians
  • 21% catholic
  • 47% protestant o Evangelical Protestants - > lots of political influence in the republican party o Mainline Protestants o Black churches No official Church Tax, only donations from the people to their churches

Controversial political issues in which evangelical groups are very active

  • Anti-same-sex-marriage
  • Anti-abortion, pro-life legislation
  • Creationism vs. evolutionary theory

Three basic elements of Civil Religion

1. Contains a set of shared beliefs

  • Idea of God is included - vague (any god) - > God safe America
  • American Exceptionalism, American dream, democracy as the best form of government 2. Symbols representing those believes
  • Freedom/liberty - > words, flag, constitution, declaration of independence
  • Historical figures, founding fathers (sacred quality – kings with divine status) 3. Rituals use symbols to reinforce those beliefs
  • Inauguration speech, patriotic events, pledge of allegiance, memorial day, super bowl, salutes, singing the anthem

The Apotheosis of Washington (becoming God) in the Capitol Rotunda (Dome)

  • George Washington in the Center of the image
  • Devine Color, with liberty and Victory
  • God-like sense of wisdom and intelligence
  • Higher quality/authority looking particularly on the USA
  • Special blessing - > God bless America

Civil Religion Symbols used in political discourse

  • Universal, matter, can be used to justify opposing opinions
  • Polarization: declaration of independence to reject/justify slavery
  1. The People – Demography, Diversity, Education

Three major demographic developments (acc. To Hebel) that have shaped societal, political,

economic and cultural development of the USA

  • Contiguous population growth
  • Growing ethnic diversity
  • Internal migration between regions, states and residential areas

Percentage of US population (330 Mio.)

  • 51% female
  • 13% African American
  • 6% Asian
  • 76% white
  • 2% Alaska Native, American Indians, Native Pacific islander
  • 3% more than one race
  • 19% Latino/Hispanic
  • 14% foreign born
  • 20% other language

  • 11% live in poverty
  • 14%/86% lived n the same house a year ago
  • 10% without health insurance
  • 12% without high school diploma Wealth in America
  • Richest 1 % has over 30% of all money
  • Bottom 50% has 2% of all money

Intersectionality → different way of discrimination on one person

  • Diversity – Differences (race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, (dis-)ability, …) ➔ Lower income, worse living situation for minority groups ➔ Different categories of discrimination can happen to the same individual
  • Historically connected to mobility, society, access to certain jobs, …
  • Black communities, segregation → fewer opportunities, more crimes due to inequality
  • Disproportional economical distribution
  • White people with more money, better health care

Three localisms in local education (acc. To Mauk and Oakland)

  • Financial localism – school budgets depending on the region
  • Don´t be biased, try to understand not judge
  • Religion and history have all impact on politics

Checks and Balances

  • Basic foundation of the US system
  • Not all the power to one or a few or the people
  • Prevents Tyranny
  • Separated institutions share power
  • Force the branches to work with one another and control each other

Impeachment:

  • THE HOUSE brings the presidents crime to court (senat)
  • Charge

Secretary of state:

  • First position in the cabinet of the US
  • Responsible for foreign policy and international relations

American Policy not working

  • Life style division (what car to get, where to live)
  • Extremism
  • Rep/Dem are not able to live with each other ➔ Growing polarization
  1. Media and Entertainment (and Art) ➔ Every media with different political directions (fox – conservative) ➔ Media is private, produces content that sells ➔ Media → everything with public mass communication ➔ Small television news with local news only – less money (copy the large news networks)

Big Four private Television networks in the US

  • ABC – American broadcasting company
  • NBC – national broadcasting company
  • CBS – colombial broadcasting company
  • FOX Broadcasting (conservative, right wing) → main stream media (most watched news channel) ➔ Subjective opinions on one matter

Main differences between the German and American media system

  • Mainstream media (best journalism)
  • Newspaper less important than german newspaper
  • Broadcasting is private/polorized
  • Television is more important
  • Books (long reportage)
  • Television is regulated
  • Non-fiction books (every presidential candidate)

FCC and Fairness Doctrine:

➔ To fight Polarization (portray contrasting viewpoints)

  • Already abolished (till 1987)
  • Different political opinions for one topic

From US to Europe: forms of art originated in the US

  • Hollywood, Disney
  • Pop art, blues, Jazz, Rap, … → Music genres
  • Literature, Broadway Musicals ➔ Last week tonight

Four most popular particularly American Sports (Sport in America)

  1. NFL – American Football (Super Bowl)
  2. MLB – Baseball
  3. NBA – Basketball
  4. NHL – Ice Hockey Soccer for girls
  5. Cultural Concepts ➔ America isn´t the best country to live in, even if they think so ➔ No help for socially week people, no social mobility ➔ Presidents have to go with the concept ➔ Cultural concepts are manipulative ➔ Myths are powerful, limit critical engagement with history → but crate the feeling of unity ➔ Separate themselves from others → cohesion (American exceptionalism)

Cultural Concept Definition

  • Larger, collective concepts, identification with a larger group
  • Cultural myth, ideology, truth → mix
  • Unifying concept, bring nation together to identify as one national collective
  • Myth: it´s unlikely; ideology: your thinking consequences in your acts

American cultural concepts

  • American dream (self made man, Steve Jobs)
  • Multiculturalism
  • American exceptionalism
  • Frontier Border (pioneer, cowboy, imagined wild west)
  • Novus Mundus, new world
  • The melting Por
  • Nation of immigrants (statue of liberty)

Importance/Problematic of cultural concepts/myths

  • Important part to create unity, influence policy and peoples behaviour
  • Faints out all the brutal/negative parts of the past
  • Misrepresentation of History, not inclusive
  • Might legitimize problematic behavior (no help for poor people)

Frederick Jackson Turner: 1893 Thesis of the Frontiers (place of most rapid Americanization)

Problematic aspects

  • One sided representation of history
  • Very nostalgic and romantic (ignores the brutality and violence)
  • Ethnocentric and racist (what about other ethnicities)
  • Focused only on the west (What about other cities and regions)
  • Uncritical in his belief in progress – isn´t there more than wilderness and civilization

American dream – James Truslow Adams 1931 (the epic of America)

  • Dream od a better life, getting rich

State System:

  1. Local courts/Trial courts
  2. Intermediate courts of appeals
  3. State supreme courts

Importance of Objections (Einspruch)

  • Legal question vs. factual question
  • No objection/appeal after a decision is made

Legitimization of common law

  • Judge is hero
  • Maker of law

Americas Prisons:

  • More prisons than anywhere else
  • 2018: 2.1 Mio adults imprisoned
  • 4.4 Mio on probation or parole
  • 25% of US citizens under correctional supervision
  • African Americans disproportionally high number
  • Lowest number in 26 years

Reasons for the US´s high incarceration rate and the disproportional representation of African

Americans

  • Racial bias (inbuilt bias)
  • Extremely harsh fines (Inappropriate for the crime)
  • Responsibility of the individuals (repetitive violations are extremely harsh)
  • Expensive lawyers (poor ppl have no access to justice / a good lawyer)
  • Reintegration not as much as punishment
  • Not able to vote after being imprisoned

Importance of the supreme court in US

  • US constitution can be amended
  • Interpret the law
  • Very influential (political issue)
  • Judges seen as powerful heroes