The history of the United States of America can be characterized by the wide variety of processes and events that modified this country into the one we can see today. Beginning from the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, the USA manifested itself as a freedom-loving and democratic country in which people are equal in their rights and duties (Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2008). Needless to say, numerous people tried to oppose this equality and this led to various conflicts based on religious and racial matters. Among the whole range of factors that transformed the USA during its history, social ones prove to be the most significant. The advances of the American nation in respect of human rights, racial equality, and religious freedom mean much more for ordinary people in America than military victories abroad or financial advances of American corporations.
The very first years of the existence of the country were marked by the initiatives of people to provide as much freedom in all aspects of social life as possible. Already in the 17 – 18th centuries, people from Europe headed for America to find freedom, and the country, which was partly a British and partly a French possession, presented the freedom sought for (Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2008). After gaining Independence in the war of 1774 – 1776, the USA stood as the country that acknowledges the freedoms and rights of every human being. To prove this, the Declaration of Independence of the USA proclaims human beings to be the basic value of the American society (Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2008). Needless to say, since 1776 the United States has advanced a lot in promoting human values in society.
As mentioned above, in the 17 – 18th centuries numerous European came to America in the pursuit of freedom, and religious freedom was one of the rights they sought (Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2008). It is known that in Europe of the period there were numerous religious wars between the Catholics and Protestants, but in America, this point never was a controversial one. According to the Independence Declaration, all people have the right to worship the religion they wish and they should not be subjected to discrimination of any kind based on their religious belonging (Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2008). Therefore, coming to America people obtained absolute freedom of religion. The exceptions concerned mainly the religions of racial minorities such as Islam and the minor religions of African Americans. In this respect, a great amount of work was carried out to eliminate the discrimination.
Racial controversy always troubled the country, especially in the initial years of its Independence, and burst out into a Civil War of 1861 – 1865 (Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2008). The reason for the war was the disagreement in the issues of race and slavery as the Northern states stood for the abolition of the latter, while the Southern states wanted to continue their development. As a result, the victory of the Northern states marked the beginning of a racially equal society in the US (Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2008). Although racism was observed long after the Civil War, the latter was the first and the most important step in transforming the racist country developing at the expense of the enslaved racial minorities into a state of freedom and equality for all the people around the globe.
Works Cited
Brands, H. W., Breen, T. H., Williams, R. H., Gross, A. J. American Stories, A history of the United States. Longman, 2008.