Welcome to Newshacker Blog, an online blog featuring at-length analyses on American politics and government, including legislative redistricting, political events, court cases, discussion on current events and hot topics, and elections, as well as analysis on infrastructure and transportation projects around the United States.
Today, as John Lewis (1940-2020) body is laid to rest in Georgia, we commemorate the sacrifices he made to the United States in demanding equal civil rights to all Americans regardless of skin color. He was an organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, led the Selma to Montgomery marches (later known as Bloody Sunday), and was one of the original Freedom Riders back in 1961. He was later elected to Congress in 1986, where he has remained a representative of Georgia’s 5th District until his death on July 17. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
The United States Postal Service: though known for being quite slow compared to private companies, it is one of the most integral parts to the U.S. as a whole. It played a huge part into making America America, and without it, the U.S. would not have been the large, coherent country it is today.
Since the United States Constitution was ratified in 1789, twenty-seven amendments have been made to the Constitution. It is very important to know these amendments in order to understand the current government. The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights and were ratified along with the Constitution. The Bill of Rights lists all the rights of people living in the United States. Here are all of the amendments summarized.
President Trump and his reelection campaign have been getting increasingly vocal against mail-in voting, and many Republicans alike are vehemently opposed to it. In today’s post, let’s find out more about Donald Trump’s war against mail-in ballots and take a look at why he might be so against them.
Today marks 100 days until the general elections on November 3. Since last time, there have been some changes to all three races nationwide. There have also been a large number of new polls that were released recently, so let’s take a closer look today.
The United States, obviously, consists of 50 states that are united, but if you dig slightly deeper, you can find that the U.S. has much more to it than just those states. In today’s episode, let’s take a brief overview of how the organization of the U.S. territorial empire works.
In Northeastern states like New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, what was once the hardest-hit area of the country by the COVID-19 pandemic is now standing out above the rest and basking in its relative success of containing the pandemic back in April. What did these states do so well, that allowed them to avoid a second rebounding of the coronavirus like that in the Sun Belt now? And what can the now-hardest-hit Sun Belt states learn from the Northeast? Let’s find out more in today’s post.
In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of schools across the country (and the world) have switched to all-online, remote distance learning. Unfortunately, this move to an all-online model has once again widened America’s social divide and urban/rural divide. It is demonstrating that a high-speed, stable internet connection is now not something reserved for the privileged few, but a service required for everyone.
Despite all the controversy surrounding abortion today, it is important to understand that abortion was actually a constitutional right as ruled by the 1973 landmark Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade. How and why did the court decide that abortion was a right? Let’s find out in today’s post.
Somehow, a simple covering that goes over your mouth and nose and which helps drastically reduce the spread of coronavirus/COVID-19 has become a source of major political debate in America. The looming question, though, is why. Why have masks become so political? Let’s find out in today’s post.
In this series, Racism in America, I aim to discuss the history of the United States with a focus on the topic of racism, both systemic and individual racism. Through this series, I hope to play a part in fighting the issue of racism that still persists in our society today. This series was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protest movement.
Last time in this series, we discussed the Civil Rights Movement up until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, we will look at all the events of the Civil Rights Movement after the act was passed, and discuss some implications of how the movement reshaped the issue of race in the United States.
As the coronavirus makes its “second sweep” across the United States, states with the highest percentage of uninsured residents have been hit the hardest, reigniting the debate over healthcare and insurance and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The last 13 states which have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA, including Texas, Florida, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, and Wyoming are now seeing major outbreaks of the coronavirus. Let’s discuss the implications of healthcare on the 2020 election in today’s post.
It has been over two weeks since my last post looking at the 2020 Presidential Race. Yet, since then, the political climate in the United States has changed significantly, especially with the recent uptick in coronavirus cases. Let’s take a look at how things stand for both parties in today’s post.
The first people arrived on the American continent around 15,000 BCE. Native American tribes existed for over a thousand years before Europeans got there. Although they had no metalworking abilities, no written language, no wheels (and thus no transportation), and no domestication of animals, they did have basic civilizations, farming, and trade networks.
After Columbus’s discovery* of the Americas back in 1492, the Spanish claimed islands in the Caribbean and in modern-day Mexico, Florida, and the southern United States. The Spanish explored areas as far as the Appalachians, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon, and even as far as the Great Plains. In fact, much of the southwestern United States was once part of Spain (and later Mexico), explaining why cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Fe, El Paso, San Antonio, and so on had Spanish names. This began a period of European exploration of the new continent. Also, this period was also characterized by Native American revolts against European settlers, who often brought disease and destruction along with them to America.
The first British colony was established in Roanoke, North Carolina, in 1585, but the colony fell apart later, leaving only a mysterious message carved into a tree (check out this amazing video by Lemmino to find out more about the lost colony of Roanoke here). Britain’s first successful American colony was in Jamestown, Virginia, which was established in 1607. It was established by the Virginia Company to search for gold (said gold, obviously, did not exist). At the time, most colonists came to America to search for gold and other valuables, and later, to escape religious or political oppression back home in England. Because they were so ill-prepared, they had to rely on Native Americans to teach them how to farm after the colonists suffered from disease and starvation.
By 1610, many colonists had died and the population had severely dwindled. To persuade people to move to America, 50 acres of land were given to each person. Luckily, because tobacco was found in the colony, the colony was able to live on and maintain a steady stream of income for the colony. The first shipment of African slaves to Jamestown occurred in 1619 to help with tobacco farming. By 1624, the colony produced over 200,000 lbs. of tobacco per year! Also, due to this, over one-half of all European colonists were indentured servants.
The Jamestown Colony.
Another famous colony to be established in America was Plymouth, Massachusetts, settled by the Pilgrims and Puritans in 1620. The Pilgrims (and Puritans) were fleeing England due to religious prosecution. Both groups were Protestants and felt that the Church of England was too Catholic for them, and so decided to head to America. They originally intended to sail to Virginia on their ship, the Mayflower, however, they went off-course and landed in Plymouth instead, and established the Mayflower Compact, a set of rules all the people on the Mayflower would follow. This can be considered the first “government” in the United States.
The Mayflower.The Mayflower Compact.
The colonists in Plymouth suffered from starvation and disease and had to rely on local Wampanoag Indians, led by Squanto, to teach them how to grow food. The first Thanksgiving was held by the colonists in Plymouth in 1621 on the fourth Thursday in November after they finally had enough food. The Plymouth colony was succeeded by the much more successful Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was established near what is now Boston in 1630. They established charter self-government from England, which gave them more autonomy compared to Virginia, and elected John Winthrop as its governor. Due to the poor farming land of New England, the area became a center for commerce and industry. Because of this, Boston became one of the most important ports.
The only other major Southern colony established during this time, outside of Virginia, was in Maryland, established in 1632. Like Virginia, it was based on plantations fueled by slave labor. In many ways, Americans like to believe that the United States was founded by groups of people seeking religious freedom from the oppressive British. However, this was only partly true. For example, the Puritans based their society on the Church, which meant that non-church members had no representation or say. Plus, the first colonies were set up for money.
*Columbus was not the first to discover America. Read more about it here.
America currently ranks number one in the entire world for the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. By July 12, 2020, over 1% of the entire population in the United States had contracted the coronavirus. What did the U.S. do wrong to cause the pandemic to become so bad? What can we learn from these mistakes? Let’s find out in today’s post.
The Supreme Court decided on two landmark cases regarding executive power on July 9, 2020. In the cases of Trump v. Vance and Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, the justices ruled that in Trump v. Vance, New York County District Attorney’s attempt to subpoena (order to appear in court) President Donald Trump’s tax returns was valid and did not require a heightened standard. Separately, in Trump v. Mazars, the court ruled that the House of Representatives’ subpoena to obtain the tax returns were not valid.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a major, landmark Supreme Court decision in 1954. The ruling declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional and was the first major victory for civil rights activists during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Here’s how the case unfolded.
The United States Constitution, ratified in 1788 and effective in 1789, is the supreme law of the United States. It comprises seven articles, detailing the framework of the federal government and establishes the structure of the U.S. Government, such as laying out the three branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. It also comprises 27 amendments, most of which detail the rights of the people in the U.S. Understanding the Constitution is essential to understanding the structure of the government and understanding how it works. So, in today’s post, we will look at the seven articles that make up the Constitution.
On July 7, 2020, the Supreme Court made a major decision in the case of Chiafalo v. Washington regarding faithless electors in the Electoral College, especially with regard to those in the 2016 presidential election. In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that states have the ability to enforce an elector’s pledge in a presidential election.
In this series, Racism in America, I aim to discuss the history of the United States with a focus on the topic of racism, both systemic and individual racism. Through this series, I hope to play a part in fighting the issue of racism that still persists in our society today. This series was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protest movement.
Continuing on from the previous post in this series, today we will be taking a closer look at the Civil Rights Movement. The movement was a fight by Black Americans to gain equal treatment under the law and desegregate the country. Having endured segregation and harsh Jim Crow laws for many years, an uprising occurred during the 1950s and ’60s, beginning a fight for equality and eventually ending in victory.
Independence Day, or the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the United States’ Declaration of Independence from Great Britain and takes place annually on July 4. On this July 4th, let’s take a look at some of the history commemorating America’s oldest holiday.
Not too long ago, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted for a bill that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state. The vote was divided cleanly along party lines – all Republicans voted no – and was 232–180. This is partially because making Washington, D.C., a state would guarantee Democrats two free senators, but there are other reasons, too.
In a previous post about the Jim Crow laws era, I briefly mentioned the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, which was where the Supreme Court legalized racial segregation. In today’s post, I would like to go into more detail about the case.
