A Speculative View of American History to 1876 :: Essays Papers

A Speculative View of American History to 1876Those who do not study history are infernal to repeat it. Human nature is one of curiosity we are not content with the superficial faade of our existence. Rather, we need understanding. We need to know not yet know how we have come to be who we are as a people, but more(prenominal) importantly why we are, and where, as a society, we are bound to end. The answer to our relentless question of existence lies in our past. We must look beyond the mere factual account of events which comprises our history, and take on a more speculative approach, and analyze the school of thought of history in our case, American history. The world has seen many different historical philosophies throughout time. Two contrasting extremes of historical philosophy were those of ancient Greece and Rome, who subscribed to the Stoic cyclical view of history, and Immanuel Kants idea of Progress. Karl Marx, in the eighteenth century, established his socialis t ideas in a volume he co-authored, The Communist Manifesto. The historical philosophy, however, which best explains the first half of American history, from its birth in Europe, to the civil war, is that of Augustine.Augustines theory of history can be detected in his major work, The City of God, in which he explains his concept of the City of Man versus the City of God Accordingly, twain cities have been formed by two loves the earthy love of the self, even to the contempt of God the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord.1 As Ronald Nash elaboratesAugustine explains that the two cities will coexist through clement history, even within the bounds of professing Christendom. Only at the last judgment, which brings human history to an end, will the two cities finally be separated, in order that they may share their appointed destinies of heaven and hell. What accounts for peoples placement i n one or the other city is the object of their love. People belong to the City of God by virtue of their love of God the rest of munificence belongs to the City of Man because of their love of self, even to the contempt of God.2This monumental work3 originally began as a response to the accusation of Romes Christian conversion ultimately contributing to its sack by Alaric and his Goths.