“AMERICAN – NESS”Beyond Our Grandest Notions!

A little about me….

• I am a certified trainer for the Center for Teacher Effectiveness

• I wrecked my wife’s car on our 2nd

date.

• I have a real estate license in addition to a teaching license.

• I once had a date with an Indian princess.

• I have eaten dinner with a President of the United States.

What stirred the souls of our

ancestors 2 centuries ago?

FREEDOM !!!

American – ness:

What is it and why do I teach it?

• Being American means buying into some very distinct notions:• Reluctant warrior

• Distrust of big government

• Misfit as heroes

• Self-inventive people

• Action hero

• Regular people can rise to the country’s highest office

• Root for the underdog

• Spirit of the American frontier

• Optimism

• ―City upon a hill‖

• I teach this because:• America has outdone the

grandest notions of its founders

• I worry that we might unknowingly forfeit this legacy of who we are.

Self – Made Country

Starting from scratch:JENKINS’ HILL

Pierre L’enfant-Architect-―a pedestal waiting for a

monument‖-A capitol building and a

presidential house connected by a grand public walk

A stretch of Maryland flatland banking on the Potomac River

Monumental Concepts

A spacious home – fit not for what had been 13 seaboard colonies, but for a vast new continental power.

Another Monumental Concept:

• Like the Capitol

• Created from scratch

• Like the capitol, it was designed by people who had never done anything like it before

• Both had boundaries set for future growth

• Both were a new beginning

• A new Republic would ―begin the world over again.‖

The Great Gatsby

• An idea of the everlasting self-creation that Americans have mastered

The Self-Made People

• British, commoner, African, Latin-American, Hispanic, Asian, etc.

• Able to choose between British rule and self-government; we chose the latter one – defended it by taking up arms.

• Discarded society of their British ancestors and created a society of their choice

Freedom:It wasn’t given to America, but we

reached out and grabbed it!

The Constant Rebel

• Andrew Jackson

• A man of the people

• Self-made, son of the frontier

• Tennessee hero

• Endowed with virtue and God-given strength because of his closeness to nature.

• Possessed an indomitable will and moral courage.

The Constant Rebel

• Thomas Paine

• Young English immigrant

• ―Common Sense‖ –government in its best state is a necessary evil…in its worse state an intolerable one.

• ―The Rights of Man‖ – argued that man deserved to have his right secured (purpose of government). - 1791

The Constant Rebel

• Bill of Rights

• Not government benefits but Constitutional guarantees to freedom from governmental power.

• Power would always be suspected and resisted

Never trust your government!

• Elian Gonzalez

• June 2000

• 6yr old Cuban boy rescued by a fisherman

• Becomes an international incident between the US and Cuba.

• Order given by then Attorney General Janet Reno to have the boy returned.

The Constant Rebel

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

• An honest man in Congress

• Had a genuine distrust of Government.

The Reluctant Warrior

• ―Don’t Tread On Me‖

• 1st US battle flag

• Gadsden flag –Christopher Gadsden – S. Carolina patriot

• Used by Ben Franklin as the first political cartoon in the colonies.

Ben Franklin and the Rattler

• I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids—She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.—She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.—As if anxious to prevent all pretentions of quarrelling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal:—Conscious of this, she never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.—Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America?

George Washington

• Remembered not just for his victories, but his retirement

• ―The greatest man in the world‖

• While President, he limited himself to 2 terms.

• ―I shall continually bear in mind that as the sword was the last resort for the preservation of our liberties, so it ought to be the first to be laid aside when those liberties are first established.‖

Spiderman

• ―With great power comes great responsibility.‖

• ―Just because you can beat someone up, doesn’t mean you should.‖

Mistakes

• VIETNAM WAR

• 1965 – 1976

• 50,000 + American lives

• Lesson – avoid future military interventions that lack strong popular support, a winnable mission, and an ―exit strategy.‖

Powell Doctrine

•WAR SHOULD BE THE POLITICS OF LAST RESORT!

-Vietnam veteran-1st Secretary of

State under George W. Bush.

But then……………………………….

September 11, 2001

And then………….

• OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM• Terrorist behind 9/11

• Any terrorist

• Global terror network

• ―Axis of Evil‖

• All countries who aid terrorists

• Those with chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons who might give them to terrorists

• Any country ruled by a tyrant that denies ―human liberty‖

From deterrence to ―Pre-emptive Action

A change in course

The Man of Action

• Bush v. Gore

• 2000 election

• Gore won popular vote, Bush won electoral vote.

• Gore’s advantage: strongest economy in history, low inflation, viewed as a solid, faithful, family man

• Bush’s advantage: seen as a Cowboy

The guy with the sun in his face always beats the indoor candidate!

Tom Sawyer

• Playful

• Show-off

• Protagonist

• Care-free

• Boyish

• Infatuated with Becky Thatcher

The Man of Action

• Teddy Rooselvelt.

• Showman and a show-off

• Dakota cowboy

• NYC police commissioner

• Rough Rider

• Big game hunter

• He was fun!

―The Tom Sawyer of the political world of the 20th century!‖ – Mark Twain

The Man of Action

• John F. Kennedy

• Son of wealthy parents

• WWII veteran

• Author of Profiles In Courage

• Elected President in 1960

• Greatest Achievement –Cuban Missile Crisis

The Common Man

• The Minutemen

• Among the first to fight in the American Revolution

• Youth

• Highly mobile

• Rapidly deployed force

• Paul Revere Listen, my children, and you shall hearOf the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year

The Common Man

• Abraham Lincoln

• No formal education

• A skilled attorney

• Had a losing record when it came to elections

• ―By the grace of God…..‖

• Gettysburg Address is still the most eloquent ever spoken.

The Common Man

• Harry S. Truman

• Folksy

• Unassuming

• No college

• ―The buck stops here.‖

The Underdog

•The guy who’s not supposed to win

A long shot who made it.

The Underdog

• Muhammad Ali

• Cassius Clay

• Kentucky

• Olympic gold metal winner in the light heavyweight division

• Fast hands, light on his feet

• Could take a punch

• The Rumble in the Jungle

―Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee:Muhammad Ali,The Champ, that’s Me!‖

The Underdog

• Oprah Winfrey

• Born in segregated Mississippi

• Unmarried parents

• Raised by her grandmother

• 1st black co-anchor of a tv news station in the south @ 19

• Worth about 2.7 billion

The Lone Hero

• The Misfit Nation

• Not European

• Not really part of the America’s to the south

• No kinship with Canada to the North

The Lone Hero

SHADOWED PAST

Took land from the Indians

Used slave labor

Not a pretty History, but it is OUR History.

The Lone Hero

• Alvin C. York

• ―Sergeant York‖

• Tennessee Hero

• WWI – led an attack on a German machine gun nest; captured 32 guns, killed 28 German soldiers, and captured 132 - alone

The Pioneers

• Daniel Boone

• 1 of the first folk heroes of the US

• First explored what is now Kentucky

• Revolutionary War veteran

• Virginia Assembly

• Surveyor

• Merchant

The Pioneers

• The Spirit of St. Louis

• Charles Lindbergh

• Fuel efficiency

• Streamlined

• First Trans-Atlantic flight

The Pioneers

• Profiles In Courage

• John Kennedy challenges his generation to join him in facing a ―New Frontier.‖

• At his Inauguration, Kennedy labels his administration as ―The New Frontier.‖

The Pioneers

• The Space Race

• U.S. v U.S.S.R.

• Sputnik

• The moon

• Apollo 13

―One small step for man…‖

The Pioneers

• The Challenger

• Jan. 28, 1986

• Crew of 7, including Christa McAuliffe –teacher

• 8th flight

• All were killed

The Optimist

• The Declaration of Independence

• Written by Thomas Jefferson

• ―…our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor.‖

• The purpose of government

The Optimist

• Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Elected during the Great Depression

• Nothing to fear but fear itself

• 4 freedoms speech;

• Speech

• Worship

• From want

• From FearThe New Deal

The Optimist

• Ronald Reagan

• 40th President

• My President

• Actor

• Sportscaster

• The Great Communicator

―I have always believed that this land was placed here between the two great oceans by some divine plan.‖

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

• Secular Religion• This country may have

come into being by God for a special purpose

• ―We hold these truths….they are endowed by their creator…‖

• Franklin believed the US could be a country where a person could finally become what he wished to be.

Almighty God hath created the mind free...All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

• Abolition

• How cold a country blessed with an exceptional mission as a role model, guarantor of rights and opportunity defend such an evil institution as slavery?

………………………………Answer

• IT CAN’T!

• Lincoln’s 2nd

Inaugural Address

• ―It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces.‖

Continued with the Civil Rights Movement.

• Another question –

• How could this country, feeling itself inspired by God –defend Jim Crow laws that so debased such a large segment of the American People.

…………………………….Answer

• JFK• ―Civil Rights is a

moral issue…as old as the scriptures and…as clear as the American Constitution.‖

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

• Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Baptist minister

• They youngest in Atlanta

• 1955 bus boycott

• Helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

• Nobel Peace Prize in 1964

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: The Future

• New Concerns

• As we defend ourselves against terrorist infiltration, we must guard those individual rights that stand at the heart of our national mission.

• As we pursue those who had a hand in the attacks of 9/11, we must guard our history as a country who fights only to defend itself.

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: The Future

• New Concerns (cont.)

• We use an outrageous share of the world’s fossil fuel on our highways

• We have permitted a revolting greed to invade the highest corporate offices.

We are often criticized for seeing the world in black and white. Yet, the US still gets called on to rid the world of the Hitlers, Stalins, Milosevics, and bin Ladens.

We are still a country where many want to study and live.

We are still the place where a person can arrive, learn English, and develop any work, identity, or lifestyle they choose.