The People Who Really Won America

We recently finished our History Channel documentary America: the Story of Us, and since I wanted to do a Fourth of July post, I decided to tie them in with each other. I think that the biggest part of our culture is our rebellious spirit and our willing to fight for what we believe in. This can be demonstrated through the actions of the Pilgrims, the colonists, and the slaves.

The Pilgrims went a long way to insure this country came into existence. They went 3,000 miles to be exact. The Pilgrims pretty much sold everything they had to go to a place where there was nothing there. They did it all for religious freedom. Thousands of people died of diseases, starvation, and animals they did not know about. However, they found ways to survive with the help of the Indians, and kept on going with life without even thinking of trying to go back to England.

The colonists were probably the biggest rebels in history. They started with small riots like the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre and then started the Revolutionary War to establish their country. The colonists fought the British for seven years and 25,700 people died, but they never gave in or said, "Fine you can have this place." They fought it out and were able to have that freedom the Pilgrims always dreamed about.

The slaves were also very rebellious. Harriet Tubman even went back and helped other slaves after she escaped through the Underground Railroad. The Civil War was then fought until the Confederate states submitted and the Thirteenth Amendment was signed. Even after the Civil War, racism still continued, and people rioted often against racism until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed to prevent it. Because of the rebels like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., racism is now much less. We even have the first black president because of these people's struggles.

Along with these rebellious successes, many other rebellions helped America like the Vietnam War protests, and other slightly more violent protests in which many people lost their lives defending their beliefs like the Kent State Riots. Either way, rebels are definitely a major part of the American culture, and I am proud to be one of them.