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Nicholas Montroy

Alec Thomson

History 151

24 June 2017

The Role of Laws and Ethics

Throughout history, America has seen many different types of changes; some which have

been positive and others that have been negative. Today, it is my belief that the most important

part of structuring our country came from the laws and ethics that our original leaders set in

place. Without laws that restricted certain acts or ones that held up individuals moral values, our

society would have been chaotic and we more than likely would have destroyed ourselves by this

point in time. We look back at these original laws that established our country in the beginning

and realize how many flaws appeared within them, but then we must think about where our

starting point would have been without the building blocks our ancestors supplied. Within the

text you will find the importance of both Federal and State laws and how they came to

agreements on how to shape our economy along with the moral values individuals were granted

in order to allow them to have a positive impact on society as a whole.

Early on, many laws that came from the federal government did not comply with the state

governments what-so-ever. They had different currencies, different labor laws, and on top of that

the federal government was a very weak system; therefore, people did not have to follow federal

guidelines. The biggest issue between federal and state governments was the different currencies.

After the Revolutionary War, this was a burden on our country because in order to pay for war

expenses, we needed to collect taxes. However, since no state had the same currency, individuals

simply did not have to pay what they were obligated to. It was not until the National Banking
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Act of 1863 was signed by Abraham Lincoln that our entire country used the same currency.

Once we established the federal dollar, taxes became mandatory and helped our country rebuild

itself with the entire population paying their fair share of income to do so. This has turned into a

system today that has its flaws; however, it has positively affected our country in a way that big

projects such as construction on roads and buildings now have nationally funded money in order

to get the job done. To understand the flaws behind our economy, an excerpt from Why Study

History by William McNeill says as follows:

Memory is not something fixed and forever. As time passes, remembered personal

experiences take on new meanings. A bitter disappointment may come to seem a blessing

in disguise; a triumph may later turn sour, while something trivial may subsequently

loom large-all because of what happens later on. Collective memory is quite the same.

Historians are always at work reinterpreting the past, asking new questions, searching

new sources and finding new meanings in old documents in order to bring the perspective

of new knowledge and experience to bear on the task of understanding the past.

Although this may not refer to our economy in the way that we would hope when talking about

failures and disappointments, we must continue to change with the world around us as much as

possible in order to continue our success as a country.

On the other hand, ethical issues play just as large of a role in society today as they did

back in the early days of America. We can take a look at slavery during the American Revolution

and see what they did to gain freedom from their owners, then if we fast forward 200 years later

you can see the impact of the civil rights movement and what those of color had to do to be

treated as equals. Both of these situations stemmed from being poorly treated by our national

government and can be viewed as life changing way of thinking. Our government, up until the
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late 20th century, never realized that we were harming the moral rights of our piers. Someones

skin tone does not depict their character which is something that our country must begin to

realize before we can become prosperous again. History is a subject that allows us to take a look

back in time and see how certain situations really unfolded. An article by Michael Postma states,

the study of history can encapsulate perspectives from different groups, genders, or classes

who may have varying views of the events that have unfolded in the past, and it can provide a

platform for authentic discussion, compromise, and empathytraits that are the basic ingredients

for active citizenship in a complex and ever-changing world. As we dissect this statement,

Postma gives great input on how we must learn from our past in order to not have a relapse that

wipes out the progress we have made in the past 240+ years which would force us to start from

square one.

Moral rights were the center point of which our government formed around when trying

to establish a strong united front. They took everything into consideration as they did not want to

fail and have another raid of British soldiers ambush the young America. A good mindset for our

leaders is, We look to the past to understand the present, and so did they, we construct appeals

regarding how things should be based on how they have been. (Hodges Final Essay, On

Rhetorical Uses of History to Understand the Present). This has rung true in many different

occasions throughout history with early leaders like George Washington and John Adams, and

recent leaders like Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. No matter which President I name, all 45

have had their own unique difficulties and continue to refer back to our founding fathers

documents like the Constitution in order to resolve a variety of problems. The 39 men who

consulted and eventually signed the Constitution became the permanent stepping stone for

Americas political and moralistic ways, even though they did not know it at the time.
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All in all, our original leaders had a huge impact on our society and continue to do so to

this day. Positively influencing our society may sound like a large task, however, when you

break it down, it is very doable whether its back in the 1700s or today when our country is

considered to be in turmoil. As we dig deeper into history we notice the effect our government

actually had even when they were a weaker force within the country. It came down to

determination and pride in order to establish laws that eventually led to the betterment of our

country not only then, but now as well. Ethically, we still have some work to do as racism and

sexualizing others still happens too often in our world which is demeaning to certain groups of

people. Overall, we have made many advances and will continue that trend, but we need our

society as a whole to buy in to what our founding fathers wanted and make their ideas into

reality.
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Annotated Bibliography

Hodges, Blair. "Hodges- Final Essay, On Rhetorical Uses of History to Understand the

Present." Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2017.

Blair Hodges was a student who attended Georgetown University. By the end of his attendance

he was a Liberal Studies Graduate student who graduated in the top 2 percent of his class. He

now has many works in which he publicized in order to help others in need of learning the

criteria of early and modern history topics. His education and background with the subject at

hand is solidified enough as he can be viewed as liable source for information when researching

the web.

McNeill, William H. "Why Study History?" Why Study History? (1985) | AHA. N.p., n.d. Web.

24 June 2017.

William H. McNeill was a professor and author who explored history through his catholic

viewpoints which widened the traditional approach to the subject. One of his greatest works was,

The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, which turned into a best seller and

won the National Book Award in the history and biography fields, while also ending up in the

New York Times Book Review. Since then, Mr. McNeill has passed away but his works still

amaze all the young and intelligent new historians today while also helping students succeed

when learning about history in the classroom.


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Postma, Michael . "What Can History Teach Us Today?" ASCD Express 6.22 - What Can

History Teach Us Today? N.p., 2011. Web. 24 June 2017.

Michael Postma wrote this article to generalize our understanding of history and tell you why it

is still important in todays age. He was is the coordinator of High Potential Services while also

managing the Minnetonka Navigator Program at Minnetonka Public Schools, but now he is the

executive director at SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted). He earned his degree

from the University of St. Thomas making him a great source for information on certain subjects.

With a historic background, he is viewed as someone who you can look to in order to learn new

matters and know they are accurate.

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