The American History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The American History - Essay Example There arose great tension between Great Britain troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington. April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and one year later, the rebels were waging the full-scale war for their independence. France joined to support the Continental Army to force the British to give up their power. Finally the British surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, in1779, and the Americans won their independence, though fighting did not formally end until 1783. These were the founding fathers of America. Just after the revolutionary war, these men came with a political system that was entirely novel for an era in which monarchs ruled most countries around the world. Just after having being freed from the British Empire, the fledgling king would have no king at all. Instead, an elected head referred to as the President of the United States of America would be elected (Michener). The president would be the leader of the federal government, enforcing the laws of the land, and acting as the commander -in- chief of the armed forces. And yet, while the presidency has since become the emblem of the American way of life, the country might have gone in a very different direction before George Washington took the oath of office on April 30, 1789, many Americans envisioned a crown for the wildly popular Virginia planter. Washington refused, and so did the farmers of the Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., and a big mansion that would be called the White House. After Washington's reign as president then followed a series of others like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt all the way up to the current president who is actually the first black president of the United States of America. This constitution established America's national government and fundamental laws and guaranteed the basic rights for all of its citizens. The Constitution was signed on September 17th, 1787 by the delegates to the constitutional convention to the United St ates. In 1791, The Bill of Rights that guaranteed basic individual protections such as freedom of speech and religion became part of the Constitution.

The Sherlock Holmes Essay Example for Free

The Sherlock Holmes Essay Sherlock Holmes stories were first published in 1887. The author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scottish author and physician; he wrote 4 novels and 56 short stories that included the character Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle claims that the stories were inspired by a man he once worked for at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary call Dr Joseph Bell. Other than Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson plays a main part in the majority of the stories, playing the part of a friend, colleague, and side-kick. Many of the stories are narrated by Dr Watson, who was shown to keep written records of the cases. Sherlock Holmes was a well-known detective in Victorian England; this means that all of his stories contain great mystery and suspense, both great qualities to hook any audience over the many years. The mystery is portrayed taking several different angles into the stories. The most common frame of mystery is the person who appears at the beginning of the story asking for help: A lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the window rise as we entered, this quote from The Adventure of the Speckled Band is similar to quotes found in many of Conan Doyles other stories, dark figures, hiding identities and appearing at inconvenient times of the day are all aspects that regularly play part in the opening of the story. These types of openings are well written to encourage any reader into questioning who the strange person is and what has caused them to ask for help. The character of Sherlock Holmes is a strange one, who always manages to impress you with his great intelligence and ability to think out side the box. He is shown to be very observant by noticing small details about people: The left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than several places There is no vehicle save a dog cart which throw up mud that way, and only when you sit on the left hand side of the driver. The way he takes in each small detail of a person or object shows to assist him in solving his difficult and extraordinary cases. Holmes attention to detail is used to amaze a reader as usually the things he points out are things that you would not usually even think about to take notice of, such as that the lady had sat on the left hand side of the dogcart. Sherlock Holmes is also shown to be a strange man in the way that whenever he has a case to solve, he refuses to sleep but instead spends his night sitting smoking on the floor, going over and over the facts and evidence in his head until he eventually works out what has happened, usually at some early hour of the morning: He took off his coat and waist coat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed, and the cushions from the sofa and armchairs. upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches. In this scene Sherlock Holmes shows that he is a man who enjoys comfort and freedom, this is demonstrated by the fact he wears a large blue dressing gown, and sits himself up on a large pile of cushions and pillows. The fact he is shown to be very used to having the finer things in life shows that he is most likely to be a wealthy man, who grew up in a privileged family. For people who grew up in a not so privileged family they may enjoy reading these books, as to gain an idea of what it is like to live an upper class life. In The Man With The Twisted Lip Sherlock Holmes is found in an opium den, this was a very strange place to find him, and when Watson, notices him, you begin to question in your mind, as to weather he really is a respectable character, or whether its Watson who has got it wrong, as traditionally an opium den was used by the lower class, rougher characters. It is the unexpected twists in the stories that have helped to grip readers and sustain the popularity of the stories over the many years.

To Kill A Mockingbird Essays: Lasting Impressions :: free essay writer

The Lasting Impressions of To Kill a Mockingbird  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To Kill A Mockingbird deals with many primal and basic lessons in human nature. The book exposes many issues that affect most people throughout their lives. Scout, the main character was one of the most affected by these lessons. During the book she was exposed to many profound experiences, which no doubt will leave a lasting impression. In the three years that the book took place, she may have learned the most important things she will learn over her entire life. One person that affected Scouts life was Boo Radley. He brought wonder, fear and then finally relief to her heart. At first kids thought he was evil. There were rumours that while he cut out the newspaper for his scrap book he "drove the scissors into his parent's leg."(pg11) He had tried to kill them. Even though this may have been just a rumor the kids were terrified of the Radleys. They described him often as a monster "six-and-a-half feet tall" with "bloodstained" hands. He was said to eat "raw squirrels and any cats he could catch".(pg12) During the rest of the book Scout and companions tried to meet Arthur (Boo) and get over their fear of him. They did not succeed. But he showed affection for them by leaving them gifts in a tree. Finally at the end of the book he proves he is a good person by saving Scout and Jem's lives. In this instance Scout may have found that to negatively prejudge someone is wrong. Scout also learned compassion. Scout also learnt about the ugliness of life - about death and pain. This lesson occurred while her brother had to read to a sick and dieing old lady. This lady's name was Mrs. Dubose. She had been a morphine addict and had decided to go clean till her death. To die as a free women, to die knowing she had won. Scout describes her as an ugly lady and during their reading sessions she would have some kind of spasm-fits. Her head moved side to side. She would drool. "Her mouth seemed to have a private existence of it's own." (pg.107) After many reading sessions with her having a fit each time, she died one day. Probably the most important person in Scout's life was the one who had set the best examples for her. To Kill A Mockingbird Essays: Lasting Impressions :: free essay writer The Lasting Impressions of To Kill a Mockingbird  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To Kill A Mockingbird deals with many primal and basic lessons in human nature. The book exposes many issues that affect most people throughout their lives. Scout, the main character was one of the most affected by these lessons. During the book she was exposed to many profound experiences, which no doubt will leave a lasting impression. In the three years that the book took place, she may have learned the most important things she will learn over her entire life. One person that affected Scouts life was Boo Radley. He brought wonder, fear and then finally relief to her heart. At first kids thought he was evil. There were rumours that while he cut out the newspaper for his scrap book he "drove the scissors into his parent's leg."(pg11) He had tried to kill them. Even though this may have been just a rumor the kids were terrified of the Radleys. They described him often as a monster "six-and-a-half feet tall" with "bloodstained" hands. He was said to eat "raw squirrels and any cats he could catch".(pg12) During the rest of the book Scout and companions tried to meet Arthur (Boo) and get over their fear of him. They did not succeed. But he showed affection for them by leaving them gifts in a tree. Finally at the end of the book he proves he is a good person by saving Scout and Jem's lives. In this instance Scout may have found that to negatively prejudge someone is wrong. Scout also learned compassion. Scout also learnt about the ugliness of life - about death and pain. This lesson occurred while her brother had to read to a sick and dieing old lady. This lady's name was Mrs. Dubose. She had been a morphine addict and had decided to go clean till her death. To die as a free women, to die knowing she had won. Scout describes her as an ugly lady and during their reading sessions she would have some kind of spasm-fits. Her head moved side to side. She would drool. "Her mouth seemed to have a private existence of it's own." (pg.107) After many reading sessions with her having a fit each time, she died one day. Probably the most important person in Scout's life was the one who had set the best examples for her.

Factors Affecting Academic Performance Essay

Like many Americans caught up in the economic downturn, college students are worried about money. Now research indicates that financial worries may affect their academic performance. This year’s National Survey of Student Engagement, released on Thursday, reveals that more than a third of seniors and more than a quarter of freshmen did not purchase required academic materials because of the cost. Roughly equal shares, around 60 percent, said they worried about having enough money for day-to-day expenses. And 36 percent of freshmen and 32 percent of seniors reported that financial concerns had interfered with their academic performance. Since 2000, Nessie, as the survey is known, has collected wide-ranging data to help colleges develop effective educational practices and promote engagement. Students are asked, for instance, how much time they spend studying, whether they get involved with campus organizations, and how they interact with their professors and peers. This year the researchers, based at Indiana University at Bloomington, also assessed how the economy was affecting students at a subset of the 546 American colleges that participated. The survey examined students’ employment, finding that among freshmen, nearly 20 percent worked on campuses, and about 30 percent worked elsewhere. For seniors, those proportions were about a quarter on campuses and more than half elsewhere. Students working off campuses logged more hours: More than half of seniors working on campuses worked less than 15 hours a week, but 40 percent of full-time seniors in off-campus jobs worked more than 16 hours a week; 20 percent logged 30 or more hours. Other research has found that working up to 20 hours a week can increase students’ engagement and improve their academic performance, but that a greater time commitment can be detrimental. In this year’s survey, more than half of full-time seniors who worked 21 or more hours a week said their work schedule interfered with their studies. Yet 60 percent of those students said they had investigated working even more hours to help cover the cost of college. Related Content Grades and Tests May Miss What Matters Most in Learning Charts: How Financial Worries Are Affecting Students Alexander C. McCormick, director of the survey, says institutions should consider such findings an opportunity to get a better sense of the financial stressors that shape students’ academic experiences. Most colleges, he points out, know which students have on-campus jobs. But administrators could do more to figure out how much time students spend working off-campus, and whether those commitments threaten their academic success. â€Å"You can never do enough to understand who your students are,† Mr. McCormick says. But collecting data is the easy part. â€Å"The really hard work is up to the colleges and universities, to figure out what the data mean and what they want to do in response.†

College Life Essay

I was really excited to go on college by the time I step on the stage and got my diploma. During college applications, I would always think of what college has to offer far from high school. I would imagine myself walking around the university’s corridor from building to building, meeting new and unfamiliar faces, involving into different school activities and enjoying a lot of my free time. I would also see myself in a more mature role as a Mass Communication student of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila which is I think a big challenge. However, I fear that college might be hard for me as a freshman. I wonder who are going to be my friends, will I be with the good ones or the other way around, what type of professors I’ll be dealing with, where should I and most importantly, how can I cope up with these changes that I can’t even sleep that night before our first day of school. And these are the things I’ve encountered so far. The whole set up of college is totally different from high school Embracing a change is certainly a difficult one. It took me a lot of adjustments to familiarize things in college. It is true that in college you are the master of your time. You should know how to manage your time preparing for school, during vacant hours and free time. Since I’m from Cavite which is a 2 hour ride going to Manila (heavy traffic not included), I should have a time allowance so I can’t be late on my first subject. Technically, if I have a 7 am class, I should be up at 4 am for preparation then at 5 am I must go. Same with going home and this is very tiresome. During my vacant, instead of wandering somewhere I will do my assignments so when I came home, there’s nothing to worry about. With my schedule, I can rarely bond with my parents and siblings at home because I must make the most out of my time to do what is needed and that often left me no personal time. I can no longer join family gatherings or social parties because if I do, I would sacrifice my time for sleep and rest. My time is being calculated and I think that’s the worst part of being a college student. On the other hand, my social life broaden with the new friends I’ve met in college but at first I find it hard to be comfortable with them because I’m still looking for the same qualities of my friends in high school. Because of it, I barely enjoy my time with them which is not healthy. That’s the hardest part in me that I struggle, to open up myself for new opportunities. The next adjustment that I had was in terms of money. Back in my high school, I am not really into allowances because IÂ  had my pack lunch and school service. Whenever I need something, I’ll just ask my parents and they will give me the amount of money I needed. But when I entered college, I started to budget everything I need with my allowance – fare, food, and school stuffs. Especially with my school environment since it is near SM Manila and those tempting, low-cost stores scattered anywhere. With that, I learned to save money and prioritize my needs over wants that leaves no room for extras.

Howard Aiken, Grace Hopper and the Mark I Computer

Howard Aiken, Grace Hopper and the Mark I Computer Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper designed the MARK series of computers at Harvard University beginning in 1944.   The Mark I   The MARK computers began with the Mark I. Imagine a giant room full of noisy, clicking metal parts, 55 feet long and eight feet high. The five-ton device contained almost 760,000 separate pieces. Used by the U.S. Navy for gunnery and ballistic calculations, the Mark I was in operation until 1959. The computer was controlled by pre-punched paper tape, and it could carry out addition, subtraction, multiplication and division functions. It could refer to previous results and had special subroutines for logarithms and trigonometric functions. It used 23 decimal place numbers. Data was stored and counted mechanically using 3,000 decimal storage wheels, 1,400 rotary dial switches and 500 miles of wire. Its electromagnetic relays classified the machine as a relay computer. All output was displayed on an electric typewriter. By todays standards, the Mark I was slow, requiring three to five seconds to accomplish a multiplication operation. Howard Aiken   Howard Aiken was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in March 1900. He was an electrical engineer and physicist who first conceived of an electro-mechanical device like the Mark I in 1937. After completing his doctorate at Harvard in 1939, Aiken stayed on to continue the computers development. IBM funded his research. Aiken headed a team of three engineers, including Grace Hopper. The Mark I was completed in 1944. Aiken completed the Mark II, an electronic computer, in 1947. He founded the Harvard Computation Laboratory that same year. He published numerous articles on electronics and switching theories and ultimately launched Aiken Industries.   Aiken loved computers, but even he had no idea of their eventual widespread appeal. Only six electronic digital computers would be required to satisfy the computing needs of the entire United States, he said in 1947. Aiken died in 1973 in St, Louis, Missouri.   Grace Hopper   Born in December 1906 in New York, Grace Hopper studied at Vassar College and Yale before she joined the Naval Reserve in 1943. In 1944, she started working with Aiken on the Harvard Mark I computer. One of Hoppers lesser-known claims to fame is that she was responsible for coining the term bug  to describe a computer fault. The original bug was a moth that caused a hardware fault in the Mark I. Hopper got rid of it and fixed the problem and was the first person to debug a computer.   She began research for the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in 1949  where she designed an improved compiler and was part of the team which developed Flow-Matic, the first English-language data processing compiler. She invented the language APT and verified the language COBOL.   Hopper was the first computer science Man of the Year in 1969, and she received the National Medal of Technology in 1991. She died a year later, in 1992, in Arlington, Virginia.

Free sample - Counter-force. translation missing

Counter-force. Counter-forceCounterforce can be defined as an opposing or a contrary force, particularly a military force that is capable of destructing the nuclear armaments that belong to an enemy.   Counterforce ensures that the adversary is disarmed by destructing its nuclear weapons earlier before they can be launched, and by this way, the impact of a retributive second strike is minimized. It is true that a counterforce target does not include an adversary’s population, political, or economic resources. A perfect counterforce attack would not kill any civilian. Military attacks have a tendency to causing collateral harm however. Particularly, this is very true as the nuclear weapons are used. In nuclear terms it has been found that most of the military targets are placed very close to civilian centers, such that if a major counterforce strike takes place, a number of civilian causalities will possibly result. Irrespective of the number and size of nuclear warheads, civilians will be threatened as long as the weapons are close to civilian centers (Lee, 1996).  Ã‚   Counterforce operations have been found to be the most effective in forbidding the use of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction which include, biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, at the commencement of a conflict. At the same time, the counterforce operations can be used to confuse, disorientate, and disorganize the forces of any given adversary.   Most of the people persistently believe that, the capability to fight, endure, and win a nuclear war makes the only really efficacious deterrent, and counterforce is the preferred strategy for these people (Hilsman, 1999).   It is apparent that counterforce is very important when it comes to damage limiting by the process of offensive action. Damage limitation can also come about due to defensive measures. If a country’s counterforce strike against an enemy is successful, it can indubitably limit the damage the enemy could cause the country. Counterforce operations will to a greater extent contribute to success in the time of war. The word damage-limiting is in a useful manner limited to describing the capabilities, defensive or offensive, that attempt to diminish the damage which the adversary can possibly inflict upon a country. This appropriates the expression ‘damage avoidance’ for the weapons systems, strategies, and warheads through which a nation would attempt to minimize the damage it would have to impose upon an enemy during the military operation. It has been found that a damage avoiding attack calls for the employment of accurate, small-sized warheads, and very accurate mis siles to eliminate those weapons of the adversary with the slightest practicable harm to the adversary’s people as well as economy (Lee, 1996). By Lee (1996), a perfect weapon for damage avoidance will destroy the weapons for enemies without harming their troops. Apparently, this will leave the adversary without a way to retaliate, and at the same time holding the adversary open to the coercive power of the weapons just like the involved nation will withhold from their counterforce strike. To diminish the enemy potential to impose damage on nations such as United States, offensive and defensive are the two ways which are employed. This is to eliminate by counterforce assail enemy missiles as well as other systems which are to deliver the warheads even before they can leave their forces. By this way, counterforce attack reduces the susceptibility of a nation by improvements in peaceful defenses as well as developing effectual antimissile systems of defense. By use of offensive, the capability of the enemy is curtailed by diminishing the total number of warheads which could be thrown at the involved nation.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Hilsman (1999), counterforce is a relatively effective strategy due to the following reasons: it is much easier to identify the location of an enemy weapon and attack it earlier before it is operational or is fired; and as well counterforce is found efficient and effective at the margins. The targets are frequently stationary and their whereabouts can be ascertained beforehand. This means that, to target the operating and storage facilities is easier as compared to destroying missile warheads which are traveling in the direction of a target at a very high speed. The fixed targets are comparatively large and at times located anterior to hostilities, meaning that they are susceptible to be destroyed as compared to moving individual weapons. Counterforce attacks are seen to be more efficient as compared to active defenses since they stretch forth the prospect of destroying lots of warheads or delivery systems with comparatively few weapons. In this case, it is true that expenditure rates on weapons favor counterforce to a greater extent such that a given nation can easily afford the option. For example, it is relatively easy to destroy ten warheads on a missile that is in its silo as compared to destroying individual ten warheads during which they speed in the direction of their targets. Surely, as one adopts an infrastructure of weapons system from individual warhead to the facilities of production, counterforce’s effectiveness at the margins gets readily obvious. Using the counterforce, there is an increased probability to destroy lots of missiles by attacking the facilities of assembly-fueling-mating as well as to destroy the big number of delivery vehicles by assailing the facilities for their storage. By stre tching out the prospect of destroying a number of individual weapons at the same time, counterforce has been found to be the most efficient constituent of a theater missile defense effort (Hilsman, 1999). According to Lee (1996), counterforce strategists reason that with sufficient counterforce capacity, a country can inflict a bargain that is not favorable to its opponent. By the intra-war hindrance that is provided by the counterforce capacity, a country can have its opponent to discontinue attacking, and this can be achieved in a way that is to the country’s relative advantage. It is of great importance when a country ensures that the opponent accepts a larger component of the restraint burden would there be projections concerning the war to be suitably limited. Through the use of its counterforce capability in forcing the opponents to pick out restraint, the country can have the most effectual way of attaining a suitable limited nuclear war.  Ã‚  Ã‚   References Hilsman, R., (1999). From Nuclear Military Strategy to a World Without War. New York: Praeger. Lee, S., (1996). Morality, Prudence, and Nuclear Weapons. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.