دانلود کتاب تاریخ سیاسی ایالات متحده آمریکا، یک ملت تحت فرمان خدا

In Philadelphia, in 1787, influential semi-aristocrats drafted the Constitution of the United States, a short document about how they would manage public affairs. When the deliberations were over, Elizabeth Willing Powel, the upper-class wife of the mayor, asked Benjamin Franklin: “Dr. Franklin, what kind of government have you given us?” He replied, “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.” A lot is going on in this muchrepeated anecdote. Well-off men assemble and set down on paper regulations for a group of former colonies. When they finish, a woman questions the most famous American in the world. She trusts and respects him but wants him to explain what has been done. What does “republic” mean anyway? Whatever it is, Franklin says it is her job—the work of the people—to preserve it, and not the job of the male leaders. Even though she was female and did not have elementary rights, Franklin suggests that she has a voice and can make claims on the politicians. One Nation Under God explores issues like the one this story raises. The book is a history of the United States of America, a political entity. This narrative involves the creation of a nation, the evolution of its administration, and its advance at home and around the world. We look at how some inhabitants defined the country and at the same time how the country defined these inhabitants as its proper residents, and secured their loyalty. The origins and history of the nation raise weighty questions about patriotism and authority. How do individuals decide who will lay down the law? Maybe government just reflects who is strongest; maybe human beings just have periodic struggles over who has control. Could wars just be bigger versions of gangland fights? Statespeople might not differ from criminals and murderers who also use violence to get others to do what they want. Or can we all sit down and rationally determine what is just? Do we have rights, and a right to resist bad leaders? Some regimes are better than others, but the better could get worse. How can we prevent the better from becoming worse, or make a bad one better? The phrase American history is sometimes synonymous with the history of the United States from the time of the famous meeting of 1787, “the Founding.” We can also use the phrase to talk about earlier events that took place in North and South America and that we connect to the Founding. These developments occurred before the United States existed but led to its existence. Because the values of English migrants shaped the United States, the book looks at how and why they came to the New World in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Because the acquisition of land dominated America until the end of the nineteenth, the book examines how the English and other Europeans linked up with the indigenous, the Indians, who were living on this land when the Europeans came. Because slavery had such an impact, I investigate how Africans arrived, long before the Founding. In the new United States not everyone qualified as a citizen. The Indians did not. Neither did most of the Blacks who had been brought to the country. Women also had no say. As the United States grew after 1787, debates continually occurred over who could participate. Who made up the “nationals,” who could ask for services or protection, and who, in turn, had certain obligations to the government? Foreign policy sometimes involved the protection of these mainly white males, but often meant worrying about what would happen if America extended its clout outside the United States.