Post 11 - Theme of the United States

                      I think that if I had to give the United States a theme, it would be something along the lines of "Freedom through Fighting". When the country was merely a colony of England, men and women alike came to the new world in hopes of prosperity. Some were wealthy and owned acres of land. Some were of very low class, these people who had no prospects in England came to the new world as indentured servants. They traded away part of their lives hoping to make something of themselves in the colonies. What they found was anything but easy, they fought for years in lands of disease, hostile natives, and poor living conditions. Though they freely chose this life to better their own, they didn't know of the near slave-like conditions and years of work and fighting they would be put through all in the name of freedom.

                     Fast-forward about a century, and the 13 colonies are at war with England. Feeling they had been oppressed and taken advantage of for many years, the colonies declared their independence. What ensued was an 8-year war and the deaths of over 200,000 people. The United States fought long and hard for its freedom as a country, and in the end, we won it and earned it. 

                    Another fight for freedom arose about 80 years later. The Civil War was mainly fought over that act of slavery. An act that was cruel and inhumane, but did help America in its early days build as a prosperous colony and later a country. Though the slave trade had ended in the early 1800's the ownership of slaves continued on for decades until people decided the practice needed to be ended and that those people bound in slavery should have their freedom. The war cost the lives of over 600,000 Americans, but lead to the freedom of 3,900,000 slaves.

                 Just those 3 points show that the United States is all about Freedom, but it does have a cost. Many people have had to fight, some through hard conditions and some giving their own lives. In the end, we are of the freest countries out there and that freedom was not just given to us, fighting for that freedom was required.