American History and it's killing me

Oh WOW! There is SO much revisioninst history, that you might have to teach us what you learned, etc!!!! If you CAN transfer the units though, there should be no reason to "relearn" that. And a LOT of movies/series, etc... stylize things, etc...

Steve

I see you mention about the birth of the USA so I am guessing you mean the 1st settlers and Mayflower experience...

Or do you mean post war of independance after us English were 'thrown' out of what is now the USA ?

Best wishes

Pete

One of the best Movie about the American Revolution is "The Patriot". If you want to know how our country (USA) was founded rent this movie. It has some points mention that are not in the text books on American History.

Just so there is no confusion about the title the movie stars Mel Gibson with the late Heath Ledger .

This is all I can think of now.

Tom

Here's a couple of movies you can check out - regarding the revolution...

- "The Patriot" starring Mel Gibson

- Anything on George Washington

Also the History channel has lots of good stuff related to American History.

TL

The patriot IS a nice movie, and has its points, but it is a story that dramatizes a set of events. It certainly shouldn't all be taken as fact, etc...

Likewise, stuff on George washington may just be propaganda. NOTHING is sacred.

The history channel DOES have some nice stuff though. Stick to stories that say they are factual, or biographies, on the history channel, and you probably WON'T go wrong. THEY have no axe to grind, and sometimes make the most boring stuff interesting, and make valid ties.

Steve

Thanks guys.

This is about the birth of USA. The colonies, British, General Howe, General Clinton, French and Indian war, Mayflower compact and yada yada yada.

Just out of curiosity, do most of you here (I'm referring to the Americans) know which part of Europe/Africa were you originated from? I couldn't believe the French were that powerful.

(Our local textbook says the British was the best at war. =__________=)

Desmond thats a subject that touches raw nerves to be honest...

'The patriot' is a good film from an entertainment point of view but facts as always are twisted...

Mainly from Britain as migrants and Irish to escape the famine that was going on at the time...

As for the war of independance many many mercenaries were used and yes the English were removed from what is now north America...

The native americans are what we now know as red indians of the various tribes and popularised in films...

Rather than anything hollywood blockbuster movie wise I would stick to watching documentries and researching on the internet for the facts...

Desmond, if you ever get a chance, check out "The Crossing" starring Jeff ________ as George Washington.

It details the pivotal battle of Trenton ( on Xmas day ) that was among many that saved the American cause.

TL

If you like to read, pick up this book:

Patriots by A.J. Langguth

Amazon.com: Patriots: Men Who Started the...
(not an aff. link)

I read this one a few times. What I like is the author writes it in a "novel" format, which makes it an easy read (vs. a dry text book).

In fact, it's still in my bookshelf. Time to pull it out and read it again.

'the patriot' is not a historical document, its not even historically accurate. there was a whole hbo series on the founding fathers that was actually pretty good.

if you want to get a good feel for the men and the times, go read 'common sense'

I disagree Joe - I think the Family Guy represents us best.

Desmond - you didn't say exactly WHERE in the States you will be staying. Don't forget that when you are here you can actually GO to see Historical sites and museums. Many have guided tours and you will be able to learn "Live" - much better than TV.

Sometimes people don't understand how to TEACH history, and the result is a very dull subject. While time lines are a bit important so you can get the feel of what was happening all over the globe during certain events, it's the bits about other areas of history besides wars that really let you understand how the people lived, what they thought, and how society evolved.

History books don't always tell the truth either. It's been known for some time now that Columbus wasn't the first to come here from over-seas, yet the books often still honor him as the first. In ways that might ring true enough for us because he is the first that actually led to the full blown immigration into the states from Europe. So I guess that is where we officially start our history.

Some of American history you don't "get" now you will come to understand when you actually live in this culture. For example, to understand our attachment to our guns, you just have to be here and live with such a freedom to actually live with the importance of this freedom- not only as a daily basis for self defense, but also to understand why our confidence that or Government can go only so far is so high.

A lot of understanding how we got here is a matter of living with who we are now.

You see - learning a language is deceptive. You can speak English, yet you really don't understand some of the connotations of our words until you are here living with the people in the culture that speaks them. Word usage and symbolism can not be separated from the culture. They are the very symbols from which we develop culturally, and psychologically as well. Once you get into a culture and start to understand the little bits about that language that you can't learn from the outside, the whole history of the nation will make sense to you.

And if you want some real SPICY history -- check out the gold rush. Read some of the stories of the actual pioneers. Now there's a part of history that really nails who we are to a tee.

Thanks guys again. I really appreciate it. (Was supposed to read up the chapter about article confederation...ergh...something and then got distracted with Market Samurai and found 3 niches. lol)

Anyway, saying that americans are like Family Guy is just too harsh i think. I have a couple of really close American friends and they're friendlier than people over here in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, if you fall down in the middle of a crowded street, it's very unlikely no one will help you up -- especially in the city!

Desmond - go to Ethiopia and you will see people step over children starving in the streets. A lot of human kindness goes out the window when people get just too used to seeing Tragedy or violence - or when they are reduced to struggling for their own living.

Do not be fooled about Americans Desmond. While you will meet many that are wonderful people, there are also many that you need to watch out for. There are places you can accidentally wander into in larger cities where someone will cut your finger off to steal a ring or kill you for 5 bucks you have in your pocket. We are fortunate that not many places are like that, but they are there so make sure you know where you are going before you go there.

You will most likely find the college atmosphere extremely fun and friendly -- but outside of that area you may run into some problems with prejudices. People are becoming very itchy about immigrants since the inflow of illegals has been causing so many problems so you might run up against some very unkind types while you are here. You are a terrific guy though and your friends will help guide you and will explain to you what is going on if someone else is rude to you. Don't ever take it personally - unless you actually did something to deserve a rude reaction.

All in all - I think you will love the trip and will learn things that will amaze you here.

The bulk of them did go in the 1840's you quite right I never disputed that and I never said things in the film were way off the mark.

I said facts have been twisted and so hollywood is famous for it.

The fact that the army fighting the British was made up of more merenaries than americans at the time and we had been fighting the europeans for 100's of years prior and afterwards.

Yes we also did maintain our operation in Canada that also I never disputed.

If you want to know some more of the factual errors within the film then this is the link for you to look through...

The Patriot (2000) - Goofs

I did acknowldge it is entertaining as film but facts have been twisted... Surely you can accept that as fact ?

One good way to learn about American history is to learn about our Constitution. The way it was written explains a lot about what the founders thought of government.

The Constitution was written in a way to authorize the central government regarding a specific set of enumerated powers and to restrain/forbid it from everything else. Amendments 9 & 10 make this perfectly clear who the powers go to which are not listed in the Constitution.

Then take a look at the Bill of Rights, written in ways that restrict the government. It's not about "giving rights" because the people already had their rights. The government's job, duty and obligation is to protect those rights.

So, if rights did not come from the government where did they come from? Our rights come from our creator. For the religious among us that means their God and for others it simply means from their humanity. This is the law as stated in the declaration of independence (which is part of our law, literally).

Other things to consider are how the Constitution requires only gold & silver to be used as money. Gold and silver are honest money and it prevents the government from making more out of thin air.

The founders did not trust government and the U.S. was born out of a revolution fought and won against a tyrannical government.

Cripes, John2k - anybody looking at the Bill of Rights then looking at the way congress is acting is gonna get nothing but confusion from the discrepancies.

My father's family is English and German. My mother's family were Cossacks. They didn't come over until the Bolshevik rise.


Also - when talking about the revolutionary war, etc -- don't forget.......the patriots learned a lot of the warfare methods they used from the Native Americans.