

The Country That Just Keeps Growing

	A country is only as strong as its weakest link.  For the United States of America we have seen many different ups and downs in the short period since our conception.  Throughout this time we have our country fighting for it's independence from England, fight against itself for civil rights, fight against other countries for the right of land, and fight to become a world power.   During this time our country has grown to be the democracy that we are today.  To be a democracy a country has maintain some requirements.  As stated by Dr. Greenwald the requirements are: control over government decisions about policy constitutionally vested in elected representatives chosen in frequent and fair elections; government which encourages and allows rights of citizenship such as freedom of speech, religion, opinion, and association; majority rule accompanied by respect for the rights of minorities; and all adult citizens have the right to vote in elections and run for political office.  During the period of 1865 and 1924, the United States of America became more a democracy as a nation.  This was due in large part to the support that they showed toward African American's and women.  Without the push of civil rights and liberties from these two groups the United States would have fallen, become weak as a nation, and turned into less of a democracy.  
	After the Civil War African American's started to gain more and more power.  This power leads them to become a very powerful and influential group which started to help shape our nation into what we are today.  Although in the long term African American's gained every right and freedom to make them equal to all others, this was a very long and dumpy road for them.  African American's as a group brought change to every point in the definition of what it means for a country to be a democracy.  
	After the Civil War the reconstruction period began for African American's.  This was a time of great change for their race.  When reconstruction began a lot of African American's sought out education.  They felt that education would gain them their freedom and keep them from having to work the typical job of a slave.  According to Booker T. Washington, "In every part of the South, during the Reconstruction period, schools, both day and night, were filled to overflowing with people of all ages and conditions, some being as far along in age as sixty and seventy years. The ambition to secure an education was most praiseworthy and encouraging."1  This overwhelming flow of people wanting to educate themselves was very encouraging for the African American population.  Being educated would lead to many more things.  Once a person was educated then they could get higher education which lead to African American's having powerful jobs.  This even lead to African American's holding seats in politics.  Being educated and holding seats in office both show that the nation as a whole was "respecting the rights of the minorities".  This is one of the qualifications for a nation to be a democracy.  
	As stated in The Talented Tenth, "From the very day that a Philadelphia colored man became tile first subscriber to Garrison's 'Liberator,' to the day when Negro soldiers made the Emancipation Proclamation possible, black leaders worked shoulder to shoulder with white men in a movement, the success of which would have been impossible without them."2 W.E.B. Dubois created the talented tenth to bring African American's into power.  He believed that once the top ten percent of the African American population was educated, powerful, and wealthy that it would then trickle down to the rest of the African American's.  His hope for the group turned out much better then he had expected.  Not only did the African American's fight for their civil rights and liberties, but so did white people.  They whites wanted to see the African American's gain all the rights that they deserved.  Having blacks and whites work together made even more progress and tightened our democracy as a nation.  It helped gain all the rights of citizenship that the African American's were looking for.  The African American's were not the only group in our history that developed our democracy as a nation.  
	Women started to play a very large role in our history as a country in the latter part of the time period.  Up until this point in time women were not important.  We were just looked on as the person who takes care of the kids and has the house in tip top shape.  Our biggest worry was having dinner ready for our husbands when they walked in the door so that they could just relax after a long day of working hard at the office.  As stated by Margaret Sanger, "Suffrage was going to 'break up the home.' Higher education would unfit her for motherhood, and co-education would surely result in making her immoral."3 People and more so men really thought that if woman were educated that they would not want to raise a family or care for their children.  Having an education has nothing to do with motherhood.  It also has nothing to do with being moral.  If anything having an education makes you a more moral person.   Thankfully woman came to their senses and started to change once the turn of the century came.  During the early 1900's women started to take a stance for themselves.  They realized that they should have the right to vote too.  Woman suffrage groups started to form everywhere.  These were groups where woman would meet and discuss how they were going to gain the right for voting.  They wanted to be able to vote for the next President.  
	Woman became even more involved once the United States became active in WWI.  When Woodrow Wilson decided that the United States would become involved in WWI in 1917 many of our men were taken off to fight for our country.  This caused the factories and businesses to become understaffed and in need for anyone to come and keep them going.  This was a leading way for woman to become involved in work and activities outside of their home.  As the need for workers rose, more and more woman started to obtain jobs outside of the house hold.  These were not just jobs that were already typical for woman such as a seamstress or a secretary.  These were jobs in industrial and mechanical factories.  For the first time in history woman were performing the jobs that men were only "qualified" to carry out.  
	This was a huge step for woman suffrage and for our democracy as a country.   We were finally letting woman and men work together at the same jobs.  This showed that we "respected the rights of minorities".  At this point in time and still so today women were considered a minority and they were discriminated upon just as much as any other minority.  For the first time in United States history a significant amount of  women were being allowed the right to work the same jobs as men which gave them some of the same rights as men.  Women keep working in these in found jobs for the duration of the war.  When the war concluded though the men came back to their jobs and they wanted women to go back to their normal "jobs" at home.  This was a period when women suffrage began to play a major rule.  Women got a taste of how life was in the "real world", and they wanted to more of it.  This was when woman started to fight for the rights that they deserved.
	Come the late 1910's woman started to fight for the right to vote.  This was a huge deal for women.  If given this right then they would become equal to men in the eyes of the government.  If they were to be equal to men in government then they would also be equal to men in other aspects of life.  Women started to go to Washington D.C and protest for congress to recognize women and give them the right to vote.  All of their hard work finally paid off in June of 1919.  As stated in the New York Times, "After a long and persistent fight advocates of woman suffrage won a victory in the Senate today when that body, by a vote of 56 to 25, adopted the Susan Anthony amendment to the Constitution." 4 Women were finally given the right to vote in 1920.  Thanks to this amendment to the constitution we gained an even larger role as a democracy.
	The United States of America should that they were even more of a democracy during the time period of 1865-1924 then they had ever been before that time.  They made it possible for not just one minority, but for two minorities to vote.  They also showed that all people were equal under the court of law no matter what color of skin they had or what sex they were.  During this time men of all race's were becoming involved in politics and having their voices be heard.  For the first time in history women were even given the right to state their views on politics and had the right to vote for whomever they thought would best run our country.  This was a time of extreme change for the United States.  All citizens were now granted all the same rights and libraries.  Democracy was at a high in the United States and would stay this way for a long time after this time period.   











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