Digital Flyer (1880-1920)
Quin O'Hara
Industrialization
Bringing pride and a little bit of shame, industrialization made America mostly a better place. From the expansion of electricity which helped light up America, heating houses and making things a bit easier, oil drilling and refining, which helped factories produce more because of the amount of oil that was being founded at that time, yet giving power to people that should not have power, letting them create a monopoly and run at the top of the food chain, and lastly, Edison's light bulb, which teamed up with the expansion of electricity, giving light to houses and streets, making the scary darkness light.
Immigration
America let in many, many immigrants. Sadly, the Chinese Exclusion Act would not let any Chinese migrants allowed, which is cheap and shameful of the United States. But, the US did have Nativism, the policy of protecting the interests of native-born people, which was to be proud of. Then we had Angel Island, which is to be mostly proud of, but a little shameful. People took a ship to Angel Island, where they would become a citizen, unless they were sick. Making millions of people citizens is great, but the people that were denied, the people who took a very long ship ride, just to get denied and sent back the their homeland, is sad.
Progressivism
Making the food more pure, the Pure Food Act made sure that food was actually food, not hiding any unedible or disgusting substance to it. Congress decided to put a graduated income tax, which is very fair to the public, making people with more money, pay more, and people with less, pay less. In the 17th Amendment, the people, by popular vote, get to chose 2 senators from their state, which is also fair.
Imperialism
The Panama Canal was a proud thing, at least for America it was. Columbia did not like it at all, but on our end, we got trade ships through and never cared about what Columbia thought of us. The advances in technology helped America defeat the Germans and stop them from what terrible things they were doing; to me, that's something to be proud of. Also, the Treaty of Versailles helped swipe the Germans away by taking away their army, and their right to have one, against their will.
World War I
When America declined to join to League of Nations, it was shameful because it could have prevented future wars. Not smart on our end, at all. Then, against the will of Germany, we had the Treaty of Versailles, which prevented Germany from having any kind of army or power at all. Finally, we did something smart. Proud of America because we protected democracy, trying to fend off communism, used by the Germans, because in order to have a happy country, the peoples word must be heard.
Conclusion
In all, America turned out to be a proud country. Although we have done things, shameful things, we are more of a proud country than a shameful country. No country is perfect, every country makes mistakes.