American Experience Essay
While
societies are constantly changing, history tends to be centralized around
certain patterns or ideas that reoccur in every momentous decade or era. In the case of the United States, there
will always be a battle between those considered superior and their subordinate
counterparts. With superiority
comes a sense of belonging and power, and a dignified knowledge that
understands the magnitude of its control over society. These superior individuals lounge at
the pinnacle of a community’s social structure, dictating the outcome of
various conflicts or debates.
Alternatively, inferiority is accompanied by secondary privileges and
inescapable inequity. Individuals
stuck in an inferior level of society may have basic liberties stripped from
them in order to benefit those in power.
Of course there are those in the median gray area where people exist
both above and below them in society; however, this section is dwindling as the
strength of supremacy grows in its role in America’s history.
When
the Declaration of Independence was passed on July 4th, 1776, Thomas
Jefferson and his colleagues felt it imperative to grant every citizen “life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” (The Charters of Freedom) In this
respect, all citizens of the United States were thus equal in their basic
rights in the newly established nation in America. Throughout the course of the next three hundred years in
United States history, groups of people may have pushed for this ideal equality
in order to reestablish the intentions of the Founding Fathers. As Thomas Jefferson said in his first
inaugural address as president, “We are all Republicans, we are all
Federalists,” (Jefferson) in which he acknowledges the strong American tendency to divide into
political parties. Yet in an attempt to unite the nation and prevent political
division, Jefferson argues that both parties have the same motives and goals.
Neither Republican nor Federalist Party is any more desirable or superior
to the other because both ultimately strive for national unity and
harmony. Also promoting general
equality in the nation was Abraham Lincoln who, in the act of passing the
Emancipation Proclamation in the 1860s, declared all slaves free from the
states in rebellion due to the Civil War (Lincoln). Formerly well below whites
and other races in American society, African Americans were allowed by the
Proclamation to rise up in social status and reach societal equality.
Freed from the binding of slavery, these former laborers were able to
pursue other goals and achievements, providing an opportunity for them to
equalize the subordination of races.
Moving into the twentieth century, groups of
people advocated the elimination of superiority in society based on claims
related to politics or labor. The
Socialist Party in particular “offered a gender-free and colorblind invitation
to membership,” and in doing so, “endorsed equal civil and political rights.”
(Miller) Addressing the social
corruption evident in American society, Socialists promoted political rights
for both men and women so to settle the imbalance of gender equality, and limit
the overarching power of men in society. The nineteenth amendment
establishing female suffrage was not passed until 1920; Socialists
provided an outlet and temporary opportunity for women searching for equality
prior to the Constitutional solution.
As a people of personal will and
determination, Americans can be triggered by even a hint of subordination in
society. Unfortunately, given the
unavoidable nature of supremacy in American communities, these rebellions to
superiority have always been quelled or quieted to maintain a usual balance of
power. Supremacy remains, as it
has throughout American history, a dominantly unjust yet inescapable aspect of
American society.
The meager efforts of several determined
individuals in America’s history were hardly enough to eliminate, or even stir,
the prominence of societal superiority. After having defied the supremacy of the British in the
American Revolution, American shifted their focus towards expansion and
acquisition. This could not be
completed, however, without managing the Indians settled on lands targeted for
expansion. Thus, under the
Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the United States passed the Indian Removal Act
of 1830 to satisfy the American yearning for wealth and power. With “a clam-shell, or the shoulder
blade of a buffalo, tied to a stick” as the only mode of agriculture for the
Indians, American expansionists with superior weapons and technology found ease
in pushing the inferior Indians off of their respective lands (“Removal of the
Indians”). Despite the reality that the Native
Americans had preceded European settlers in establishing communities in
America, white superiors, such as the author of this article, found it
imperative to push the inept tribes aside for further American advancement.
The simplistic, modest lifestyle of the Indians was not admired, but
resented as primitive and insignificant, elevating white Americans to a
superior status, both in technology and society. In order for the United States to reach the magnitude and
power it has today, this expansion and suppression of Indians was not necessary
but unavoidable in the course of America’s history. Inescapable as it was, this led to horrifying destruction of
culture and native society, particularly in the Trail of Tears. This forced removal of Cherokee Indians
at this time led to the death of approximately 4,000 natives from “hunger,
exposure and disease.” (“A Brief History of the Trail of Tears”)
While this trend continued in
the following decades, another turn of events emphasized the importance of
American supremacy at the increase of immigration rates in the late nineteenth
century. As the supposed superior
nation in the global scene of the 1880s, the United States found it imperative
to rid society of any alleged inferior individuals that would potentially
disrupt America’s success.
Therefore the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed to prevent these
immigrants from entering the country since these people “endanger[ed] the good
order of certain localities” within the U.S. (“Transcript of the Chinese
Exclusion Act”). Although with no
proof of their supremacy over the Chinese, Americans insisted that Chinese
laborers had negative effects on American society. The suspension of Chinese
entry into the U.S. only established an American supremacy as a superior
nation.
Particularly following the
years of World War II, the United States as a global superpower found it vital
to demonstrate its supremacy within American society. As the Communist “Red” Scare ensued in the late 1940s, many
Americans became frantic with finding the disguised communists in American
society that could pose a threat to the U.S. capitalist system. The search for “Reds” became so severe
that even elementary school teachers were scrutinized and inspected to minute
detail in order to locate these hidden communists. Since communism was seen as a undesirable, corrupt form of
government in the United States, American anti-subversive committees and
anti-communist individuals became blinded by the threat of the equally supreme
superpower of the U.S.S.R. as they began to accuse innocent members of society
of communist actions, such as school teachers, and organizations including Boy
Scouts and Girl Scouts (Washington Post).
More recently, several groups
of people have been battling the supremacy of individuals not based on class or
power, but on race and gender. In
the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, women have slowly gained more rights
in military participation, but not without a cost. However, according to the New York Times, women still face “sexual discrimination
and rape,” which requires “counselors and rape kits…in war zones.” (Alvarez) Although
women can hold military positions more commonly in present-day, it is only the
illusion of equality as there are costs to attempting to equalize the gender
ranks in combat. Altered living arrangements, as well as emotional and
physical protection from abuse are required in order to allow women to remain
in the military. Establishing particular boundaries and adjustments for
women still keeps many of them in subordination to military men.
Although the issues of slavery
from past centuries have been resolved, remnants of the white and black culture
controversy have endured through present day. Bitterness and repulsion
characterize the feelings of the most radical of African American activists due
to the societal subjugation of this race in some areas of the United States.
Harlem provides only one of the many locations in which white communities
live comfortably and in close approximation, while African American communities
are still confined to filthy, crowded accommodations (Theroux). Some African
Americans feel insecure and at risk of harm in regions dominated by white
culture. Fears of subjugation and violence have become ubiquitous in the
daily struggle of some African Americans to stay safe, simply due to the
superiority of the white upper class.
Although supremacy in America
is not always fair or popular, it is very much inescapable. In order for social structure to exist,
individuals will always push others below them to achieve prosperity and
wealth. An ideal society would be
one were this unjust supremacy has evaporated, but in the modern day world, it
is simply impossible. American society
has mastered supremacy down to a science and although one group may escape from
inferiority one day, another group of individuals will fall to its grasp the
next day. Unreasonable as it is,
supremacy is an active aspect of American society, as it has been, and as it
always will be.
