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What is an American
higher than the bottom of the windowsill, different gangs wandering by would take potshots at them. Cabrini Green was originally an attempt to house large groups of uneducated, destructive African Americans. Unfortunately, instead of the gradual improvement in education and temperament, the result of the failed experiment was the creation of official gang turf. With regard to the homeless in DC, it is an unofficial fact that they receive more money daily than most professionals with Master’s Degrees. These examples prove that, while the ideal American has a perfect life, this kind of perfection does not actually exist.
Despite its immense power and influence in the world presently, the United States is a relatively new nation. Because of this, many countries resent America. From the beginning of its history, the people of the US have been arrogant, self-assured and primed for success. Starting with the tools of millennia of labor of other countries, the colonists began with idealistic dreams of the future. Being right means that one doesn’t have to bend to another’s will. The combination of a vast expanse of land ripe with natural resources, the strongest, brightest and most adventurous explorers constantly streaming in, and ideals of the new age allowed for a never-before seen era of freedom and expansion. Frederick Turner’s thesis based on expansion upon the frontier was at least partially right; the constant growth and development in varying stages allowed for unprecedented achievement. As time wore on, the fledgling country, though weak from youth, began to grow up isolated from its more stagnant contemporaries. As the years rolled on, Americans dreamed hard and worked harder.
Eventually that isolation and hard work paid off. Although many countries dislike Americans for our relatively easy lives and extreme freedoms, we (for the most part) embody the hopes of our forefathers. Although we’ll never live up to the ideals of the Utopian America, we are still the strongest nation in the world.