Defining and Understanding the Tea Party

American politics has always been a hotbed of debate and discussion, with the two major political parties constantly bickering, pointing fingers, and issuing challenges. Throughout the centuries that United States has existed, the term "tea party" has become synonymous with the word "protest." The term has its origins in the 1773 protest where colonists in Boston, Massachusetts, protested the Tea Act of the British government. The colonists boarded a ship bound for England and pitched crates of tea, the ship’s cargo that had been taxed by the British government, into the Boston Harbor. The complaint by the angry colonists was that they were being taxed by the British government without having any representation in Parliament. Since that time, the term "tea party" has come to represent a protest by citizens who do not believe their elected officials are adequately representing their interests.

The modern Tea Party movement of today started gathering steam shortly after President Barack Obama was sworn into office, when he and the Democrats in the House of Republicans passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009-without a single vote by a Republican. Three Republicans in the Senate-Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter (who later became a Democrat)-crossed their party lines to vote in favor of the legislation.

This lack of bipartisanship was an outrage to many conservatives, as well as to a handful of political moderates, who viewed the $787 billion "emergency" act to be proof of the intent to rapidly grow big government and a demonstration of wasteful spending. In the following weeks, as word began to spread about Democrat plans to increase estate taxes, capital gains taxes, federal income taxes, and cigarette taxes, a massive national protest was organized by conservative to take place on April 15-a date significantly chosen because it is when local, state, and federal taxes are all due. The protest were scheduled to happen simultaneously in 300 cities around the country.

In spite of wide efforts to publicize the coverage of the protests, there was astonishingly little coverage in advance of April 15. This fact only validated the opinions of most conservatives that most media outlets are operated by liberals who have fully embraced President Obama’s political and societal agendas. The only network news channel that provided full coverage of the protests was the FOXNews channel.

On April 15, 2009, when the Tax Day Tea Party protest was actually held, it was mocked and derided by the same news outlets that had ignored it from the very beginning. One of the most famous examples of this was when Susan Roesgen, a CNN correspondent covering the protests, actually started to argue with some of the people she had been interviewing. Roesgen, who was supposed to be an objective newscaster, called them "anti-government." When the crowd began booing her, she called them "anti-CNN" and said the protests were backed by FOX. Although conservative media outlets were highly critical of Roesgen, and rightfully so, most of the liberal media outlets that had been happy to ignore the planned protests beforehand were all to ready to defend her actions. However, none of them went so far as to say that Roesgen’s coverage was at all similar to conservative coverage of liberal-themed protests such as anti-war demonstrations or anti-Bush protests. In most cases, a reporter calmly asks protesters why they attended and what they are hoping to achieve. Roesgen crossed that line, but liberal media outlets defended her unprofessional attitude.

David H. Koch, the head of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative grassroots advocacy group, has taken credit for launching the idea of the Tea Party protests. FreedomWorks, also a conservative advocacy group, was a partner in planning the events. As a result, the liberal media marginalized the entire phenomenon of Tea Party activism as "astroturfing." However, regardless of who actually came up with the idea of organizing the tea parties, the people who attended them were not the professional protesters who show up at liberally themed demonstrations such as anti-war and gay rights protests. The attendees who showed up at the Tea Party protests were hard-working Americans who hold real jobs, who have real concerns about the direction the country is headed.

Other tea party protests have been held, both large and small, since the initial Tax Day protest. over the summer there was an organization called "the Tea Party Express," which began planning a cross-country tour to protest the Obama administration. The tour lasted from August 28 through September 12, 2009, stopping in several large American cities along the way. Another tour was sponsored from October 28 through November 12. As the debate over the health care overhaul began to heat up, the Tea Party protests became more intense. In addition to protesting excessive government spending and government waste, the organizers added to its long list of issues the opposition to government-owned and government-operated health care. The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, which was co-founded by Heritage Foundation policy analyst and former White House speech writer Michael Johns, began to take a lead role and helped lend the movement a legitimacy that it had been lacking.

Despite liberal criticism and efforts to silence its effectiveness, the Tea Party movement has shown no evidence of slowing down. On the contrary, conservative organizers planned hundreds more events for 2010, and the movement has become a driving force behind many conservative groups’ plans to "take back America" in the elections this November. In early December 2009, a Rasmussen poll was published that showed that if the Tea Party movement were to become a political party, politicians affiliated with it would draw more votes than politicians affiliated with the Republican Party. Although the poll results may be considered representative of declining support for the Republican Party, they can also be seen as firm validation of the Tea Party movement, which is becoming a growing force to be reckoned with in American politics.

Proclamation of 1763

United States and Canada, as all of us know, were parts of the Great Britain common wealth and the French Empire respectively, before they gained independence. The 7 Years of war was a very important event in the history of the New World colonies and the European Empires. The Proclamation of 1763 was a proclamation by King George III of Great Britain the then ruler of the colonies. The Proclamation was basically an administrative initiative by the Crown to establish better governments in the North American colonies and also establish a disciplined rule of the Crown, and forms an integral part of the American history. In order to understand the Proclamation of 1763, it is necessary to understand the history and background of the colonies and their mother Empires. You may also read more about European history.

Proclamation of 1763: Background

The Royal proclamation of 1763 was made after the Treaty of Paris, that concluded the rivalry between the British and French who had fought against each other in the 7 year war. The North American colonies belonging to several European powers significantly clashed against each other during the entire war and the British armies and navy stationed in the North American areas had a significant advantage over the small number of French troops in the region. The British military might have proved favorable in the established colonies of America as the empire was able to conquer Canada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago, which were colonies of France. During the Treaty of Paris, the French colonies of Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tobago were handed over to Great Britain. French Louisiana, a portion that spans from the Mississippi river to the Appalachian mountain range was also handed over to Great Britain. In addition to that, Great Britain was also ceded the Spanish territory of Florida to Great Britain. With effect, a partial modern day map of the United States of America had already taken physical form with the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris. With a broader view it must be noted that the French and Spanish gained a lot of territories and advantages in the remaining part of the world, especially Asia. The British crown, however, gained substantially in the New World, that is the Americans.

What was the Proclamation of 1763: Provisions

The Proclamation of 1763 definition can be stated as a governance policy by the Crown and an attempt to govern and manage the new lands which had been gained in the treaty. The proclamation of 1763 summary, can be divided into three parts, namely, the new governments, the proclamation line and the relation between the colonies and the British Commonwealth.

One of the initial actions of King George was to establish a concrete method to dominate the North American colonies. This was easily done by establishing Quebec, West Florida, East Florida, and Grenada governments. The second prominent aspect of the treaty was to bring about a harmony in the settlers, rulers and the natives. The land between the Mississippi river and the Appalachian mountain range was dominated by some genuine populations of Native Indians. In the regions around the Great lakes, this aspect of the proclamation was very important owing to the fact that the natives has a very friendly and close alliance with the French, especially in the trading sectors. In fact after the treat and implementation of the proclamation, some natives made an attempt to resist the British sovereignty, in a rebellion that is known as Pontiac's rebellion.

In order to further cement the relations in the three parties the Crown also put forth a line along the Appalachian mountain range, which is known as the 'proclamation line'. The settlers were not exactly happy with line as they were not allowed to move beyond, towards the west of this line. Apart from that, private land purchase from the Indians were banned. The future purchases and business dealings were strictly to be conducted in the Crowns name and solicitations. Effectively the Crown had monopoly over several land dealings. The outrage and objections of the colonists were later resolved with the help of several new treaties namely Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Treaty of Hard Labor, Treaty of Lochaber, which bought in West Virgina and Kentucky for further settlement. Over all the Proclamation of 1763 and the following three treaties were quite well balanced proclamations by the British crown.

Some historians mark the Royal Proclamation of 1763 as the beginning of resentment period which finally led to the American revolution and declaration of independence, as the British interference in the colonies began to considerably increase. The Proclamation of 1763 and its follow up treaties is one apt example in the world history where the decisions were well thought out by a monarch and aimed at the well being of all the parties involved. Good luck.

Enlightenment Period

The term Enlightenment has a very deep meaning, the common literary definition being: 'wisdom and understanding and ability to think and reason rationally'. There are two broad meanings of the term enlightenment, religious or spiritual enlightenment and intellectual enlightenment. The Enlightenment Period or Age of Enlightenment, which is sometimes also known as an Enlightenment era, refers to the intellectual enlightenment in the American history and also the European history.

The Enlightenment Period in the western world, that is the European and North American nations, kingdoms and colonies, is referred to the time surrounding the 18th century, more precisely in between the Thirty Years' War and the French Revolution. This period is not a revolution, thought or acceptance of one single philosophy, but is a process and time period where the society evolved a bit more. The significant change that was observed was the way in which people thought. Reason and rationality of facts became the foundation of any thought. In this process, authority of monarchs was challenged and religious customs that sounded irrational were questioned.

Enlightenment: Etymology and Timespan

The genesis of the concept of the period of enlightenment is often attributed to several events. An afterwave of the Renaissance, the era of Enlightenment is often said to have triggered the French Revolution of 1789 to 1799 as the French revolution was largely attributed to common thought and rational behavior by society. The people wanted to do what was right and what was rational. Some scholars conclude that the actual intellectual change started, much before in 1648 when the 30 years war was concluded. It was a replicating after effect of Renaissance. The Enlightenment Period timeline is quite debatable, though a literary record that triggered the interest of intellectuals to give momentum to the Age, was published in 1784-83, by Immanuel Kant, a philosopher and thinker, who published the essay Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment. The literary meaning was new found and the concept of 'Enlightenment' or Aufklärung (Greman word), was used quite strongly for the first time with reference to intellectual rationality and thought.

The essay was moreover an observance of the ongoing change that probably gave the era its name. The first paragraph of the essay was quite influential, and in some famous words Kents argued that people or society at large was not capable to think rationally or independently. The reason for this incapability as cited by Kent was fear, lack of right education and to some extent the element of unwillingness, and was not due to the lack of intellect. From the historical chronology of all historic events, the time period between 1648 (end of Thirty years war) to 1789 (French Revolution) are generally cited to the beginning and ending of the Era of Enlightenment in Europe.

It is often concluded that the Enlightenment Period was not initiated on a certain event date or time, but was assimilated by the society to such an extent that dogma was broken down by rationality. Believe it or not the Enlightenment Period per se was said to have concluded with the complete change in the though or more rudely the mentality of the society, that the beginning of the era or the World Wars. In several ways the Enlightenment Period has not ended in several primitive society and the genesis of ideas and acceptance of rationalism, empiricism and other schools of thoughts have become social institutions that are integrated it our minds quite naturally and to some extent by the promotion of education such as mathematics, science, history philosophy and economics. The 'why' element in the human thought is infinite and everlasting. All we need to do is find the answer to it naturally, rationally and in some cases through certain experience. That is something that the Enlightenment Period re-imbibed into into mankind and that is probably the way to live life and the way with which one can find the meaning of life and truth about life.

Enlightenment Period: Literature, Arts and Philosophers

The Enlightenment Period literature was quite revolutionary owing to the fact that unlike in the pre-Renaissance era, the prominent writings were in complicated languages such as Latin. In the Enlightenment Period folk languages such as English, French and German were used quite prominently. The literature itself, had broadened and scientific, historical, economic and mathematical works were published that considerably enriched the rational thought process.

The Novum Organum by Francis Bacon, is often attributed to be a pioneering work of the era and also an important initiation of what today is known as Scientific Method. Philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau talked widely about social contract, political models and also inequalities in his works, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and On the Social Contract. Ideas of Rousseau, have heavily influenced the French Revolution and the American Revolution not mention the reawakening of free though in the minds of the society. The psychology of man was depicted in two very notable works Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and A Treatise of Human Nature.

On the technical side, Issac Newton's Principia Mathematica, and his theories regarding physics, mathematics, astronomy and very simple logic that promotes a rational thought, have been of utmost importance. Two legendary economics on whose thoughts, observations and works the, modern economics is based on also made a mammoth and pioneering contributions to the field. Francois Quesney wrote the Tableau économique, a pioneering table for the Physiocratic School of thought and Adam Smith write the Wealth of Nations, a legendary set of economic theories that from the basis of economics.

The Enlightenment Period art was no less progressive than the Enlightenment Period philosophers. Mozart, a legend, composed some the most unchallenged music in the era. Requiem (an unfinished work), The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte are undoubtedly the best of the musical compositions to be ever written.

The American Enlightenment Period was dominated by the Declaration of Independence and by thoughts of thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, who have laid the founding stones of the modern free world that we enjoy today. Benjamin Franklin and his several works also cannot be ignited Simon Bolivar was another freedom fighter who though free and fought to become free. Voltaire, is the pen name of another legend, François-Marie Arouet, whose several writings and thoughts influenced the French Revolution and the American Independence. Apart from that this thoughts also greatly provoked the thirst for truth in the minds of people. The Rights and Duties that we today enjoy or our Bill of Rights, have been inspired by these works. You may also read more on philosophy topics.

The Enlightenment Period might be termed to be 'over' in the words of academicians or intellectuals. However, as a free and rational mankind, we need to understand that every other day is a day of enlightenment as we reach and learn a new rational logic every day, a new logic whose conclusion we add to the dictionary of our thoughts. Living every rational logic freely and fully, experiencing it's truthfulness through a lifetime will some how give me a nice laugh for a couple of minutes before I die. Life I feel is enlightening and is logically and rationally stupid…