How have Americans been influenced by Britian and its traditions?

Question

I have to write a paper and I'm not finding much. So anything I can rant about for 1000 words would be great! Thanks! :]

Answer 1

In the first place, what language are you reading this in?

Then, our legal system (except in Louisiana) is based on the English system.  In addition, our very concept of the rights of every individual goes back to the Magna Carta, signed by  King John in 1215.

A great many American folk songs (many of which grew into country and western songs) have their roots in the British Isles.

In relatively recent years (mid-20th century on), Americans have borrowed quite a bit of British popular culture.  The "mod" fashions of the early 1960s were inspired by British designer Mary Quant.  The Beatles and their imitators revolutionized pop music.  Many of our TV programs are copies of British series.  British novels and plays, from Shakespeare and Jane Austen to Ian Fleming and J. K. Rowling, make best-selling movies--not to mention being best-sellers first as books!  (Are you one of those who waited eagerly for each Harry Potter book to come out and then read it almost without putting it down?)  Some American chain restaurants now serve fish 'n' chips.

And we still follow the doings of the Royal Family!   Many Americans say they don't care whom Wills marries or whether Camilla ever gets to be called Queen, but there are are few who don't KNOW about them.

I hope this will do for a start!

Answer 2

America would not even exist if it hadn't been for Britain. America started as a British colony and so all our politics and beliefs were British. Despite the face that Britain did bad things, like trying to prosecute non-protestants, it's because they did that they came here. America eventually formed their own tradition when Britain forced us to break off because they would not give us fair representation in Parliament. We have gotten our language from Britain. Many of our fashions and music. The industrial revolution started in Britain and Slater "father of the factory system", memorized all the British pieces of machinery and came to the U.S. and put the plan on paper. If it weren't for Britain the United States would cease to exist.

Answer 3

America was givin it's idea of government, language and clothing fashions from England during the time of the colonies. One thing Americans did back then though, was reject simple things that they no longer wanted linked to both them and the British. Such as tea time. When the colonists dealt with terrible taxes on tea most decided to stop drinking it and after the war it was unofficially dicided that tea-time wasn't a part of an American's way of life.

Answer 4

The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, our form of government, our language and many of our customs owe some or all to our British forefathers.

Jefferson, Frankilin, Madison, Jaye, Hamilton, Hancock and many other of the Founders of our Country read, studied and frequently adopted whole, the works of English political philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment.

You will find that Jefferson adapted the words and concepts of John Locke to form the most memorable lines of the Declaration of Independence. John Stuart Mills is responsible for articulating the concepts which Jefferson expressed in his "Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom" in 1777.

In a perverse sort of way James I, King of England, was responsible for the beginning of the exodus of pilgrims from Britain. When King James succeeded Elizabeth to the throne of England in 1603, he declared that the King ruled by the word of God. In an address to Parliament in 1609, James made his case for the class of kings this way; "The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for Kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but even by God Himself they are called gods..." Such conditions as these relative to religious observance prompted the migration of English settlers to the "New World" which began in 1607.

If you read the words of Richard Hooker as he wrote in "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity" you will find an expression that rings a familar bell: "...that the beginning of politic society depends upon the consent of the individuals to join into and make one society, who, when they are incorporated, might set up whatever form of government they thought fit. Laws therefore human, of what kind so ever, are available by consent."

John Rolphe, one of those who came to the colonies in order to find religious liberty, began in 1612 to plant tobacco. The "Starving Time", the winter of 1609-1610, nearly wiped out the Virginia settlement and Rolphe crop eventually financially stabilized the colony and gave it the means to survive.

Forgive the lenghth of the response. This is my field of historical study. I could do 10,000 words without breaking for coffee.

Good luck. If you require some more detail, email me.

Answer 5

American has been influenced by Britain and its traditions in the same way you have been influenced by your parents and their traditions. Some of the traditions you have accepted, some you have rejected and rebelled against. But they provide the framework for what you have become. Same with the relationship between US and Great Britain. Britain was the 'mother country'. The first settlers were British. British rules, laws, customs etc. governed the first colonies. And, when the colonies that would eventually become the US metaphorically became teenagers, they rebelled against their parents, 'left home' (became independent) and started their own traditions. But there was still a strong British influence, whether they would acknowledge it at the time or not. And it remains part of the fabric of American life today. The language, the laws, the customs, are still largely based on British language, laws and customs.

Answer 6

If you can't read Simon Schama's 3 volume history of Britain, at least watch the documentaries made out of them.

Thanks to the British we have a political system with a constitution (Britain's is unwritten), political parties, newspapers, trial by jury and rule by law, not to mention the steam engine, locomotives, and the Industrial Revolution.