The United States Of America - 1490 Words

The United States of America (U.S.) is a nation built of immigrants. These immigrants brought many diverse languages to the U.S.. The major languages of the U.S. besides English consist of Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, French, Vietnamese, German, and Korean. Although Multilingualism or bilingualism is uncommon in the U.S., it is common in other countries. Multilingualism or bilingualism people appear to acquire knowledge faster and have superior executive functions (Diamond). This concept was discussed in class and proves that learning another language can be extremely beneficial. Spanish is a great second language to learn due to the fact that it is the nations second most used language in the U.S.. The importance of Spanish-speaking is†¦show more content†¦Throughout 1520 to 1570 the Spanish continued to explore sand produce flourishing colonies along the Atlantic coast. After extensive exploration, the Spanish began to venture to the west coast. In 1540, Francisco Coronado w as the earliest west coast Spanish-speaking explorer. The oldest Hispanic city in the U.S., Santa Fe, was established in 1605. In the late 19th century there were around 100,000 Spanish speakers on the west coast. Americans began settling in Texas, while Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. Americans in Texas began pursing independence from Mexico. In 1846, Texas was admitted into the U.S.; therefore causing the Mexican-American war. The geographic expansion of English spread across the U.S through history, while Spanish began to slowly decay. Throughout this decay, many different Spanish dialects arose. Linguists have traced Spanish dialects with 16th and 17th century Spain dialects. For example, many Spanish words that began with â€Å"h† actually began with â€Å"f† in Latin; however, through the evolution of Spanish the â€Å"f† became â€Å"h†. Another evolutionary change regarding Spanish is the decrease of consonant clusters. A constant cluster is a group of constants with no intervening vowel. Spanish has also evolved into where it is today through the borrowing of Native American words. It wasn’t for a very long time till Spanish wasn’t taught in an academic environment. The United States Of America - 1490 Words During the 1800s, the United States of America underwent some drastic changes. President Jefferson introduced a simple idea of expansion with the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition; President Madison allowed the country to slip into the war of 1812 after complications with the impressment of American seaman by British navy in the Great War during Jefferson’s time. After the war, an â€Å"Era of Good Feelings† promoted national unity and Marshall’s supreme court decided many cases that promoted power of the national government over the states. The Monroe Doctrine told European powers that they must not interfere with events in the Western Hemisphere, and the creation of the national bank also took place during this time.†¦show more content†¦The founder’s biggest nightmare had become a reality as the American Civil War was just around the corner. The first bloodshed over the issue came form what historians called Bleeding Kansas as over 200 people were killed in the tip of the iceberg of the civil war, in just deciding whether the state would be Free or Slave. The first political and legal decision made by the Supreme Court that spearheaded thee change of scene with slavery, was the Dred Scott vs. Stanford case. In a nutshell, Dred Scott was a slave and his master had taken him to a free state so he sued for his freedom because he lived in a free state so he should be a free man. The Supreme Court then decided that, according to Justice Roger B. Taney, blacks were, â€Å"beings of an inferior order†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and they have â€Å"no rights which any white man was bound to respect.† This decision declared that blacks were not citizens so first of all he had no right to be in court and decided that slaves were property, making slavery legal in every state. This led the abolitionists to realize that the majority of the Supreme Court Justices were from the South, making the judgment unfair. Shortly after this in 1857 the national economy suffered a depression and exploited the differences between the North and the South. The most influential man in this time period was Abraham Lincoln and he was elected president in the year 1860 after he ran on the