Democracy Makes America Great

When Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, little did he know he would mistakenly anchor in what is now known as the most powerful country in the world, the United States of America. Benefiting millions of people, it could be said that this was perhaps the most profitable and greatest mistake ever made. Columbus had originally intended to find a western route to India. Not even knowing there was a ginormous land mass blocked the way, he sailed until he reached the Americas and erroneously named the native peoples of the land “Indians.” Who knew that Columbus’s poor navigational skills and lack of a geographical sense would lead him to become one of the most famous names in history? He certainly did not. His financers, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, obviously did not either. Although Columbus initiated the beginnings of the American nation and society, other factors helped. Along with Columbus’s world-changing mistake, the great society and nation of America was established and nurtured with the help of the Founding Fathers, the citizens, and their beliefs.

Though the credit for finding the land was given to Columbus (despite the native people who were obviously already there and the Vikings who had arrived much earlier), the beginnings of permanent settlement had a different story. Some countries that had heard of Columbus’s ‘findings’ began to claim lands. Spain claimed land now known today as Florida. England eventually received word of this and decided to step up the competition. Nothing like a good rivalry, eh? This rivalry, along with other factors such as population increase, resulted in the first permanent English settlement of Jamestown. Jamestown was a town that later became a town of the state of Virginia, established with many other colonies as a royal colony under England. Virginia was one of the first states to adopt any concept of democracy, the basis of politics in today’s America, with the founding of the legislature called the House of Burgesses. Later, when the Americans grew tired of British rule, our Founding Fathers declared independence with a document called the Declaration of Independence, which stated that all men had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is now the basis of the American society and culture. After the Revolution, the Constitution was written by our Founding Fathers and established