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Benjamin M.

Decorative Ribbons

What does America mean to you?

By Benjamin M.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Excerpted from full response

If you asked a British Citizen in 1784 What is America? they likely would have described the newly freed rag-tag assortment of states that originally formed our country. If you asked a Native American what America meant to them during that time, they likely would have described the violent atrocities our government committed against them. If you asked the same question to a New-Yorker in the 1950s, they would respond the greatest country in the world. At various times in history, America has been the poorly resourced group of rebels, the shining pillar of democracy, and the leaders of the modern world. But America has also been the violent imperialists that subjected minority groups.

So what is America? As Abraham Lincoln described it in his Gettysburg address, America is A government for the people by the people. Throughout the various periods of American history (both positive and negative), one thing has remained constant: the ability for citizens to cause change. This is the America I know, where everyday people create the America they want to see.

Since its very creation, our founding fathers knew that this would be the core of what being American meant. The first amendment of the constitution established this, through the right of free speech, and the right to protest. I believe that this amendment, along with the right to vote, is the foundation of what America is.

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