Clare Whittaker

Portfolio Reflection

History 134

Politics have existed for thousands of years and has evolved over time. Today in

America, we recently underwent an extreme election, shifting from one political party, to

another, and in the face of social media, it was a bit ugly.

Two thousand years ago power in empires fell in the hands of one single person with no

separation of powers like many western nations have today. The single ruler had the power to

have his enemies murdered, declare war and tax his people to his personal benefit. Some leaders

were more effective than others and some leaders were liked more than others. It is through

artifacts that are found that explain history and this is how there is evidence, sometimes written,

of how political infrastructure was set up.

For thousands of years religion was tied to the government. It was through conquest that

one empire was able to instill their own religion on another empire. This was promoted within

the religion. A ruler would force his people to practice one religion and if they did not, they

would be executed. Many wars, if not most wars in history have been fought over religion, to

either recover holy belongings or to impose one religion on a people. With separation of church

and state and now that more nations than ever have separated these two monsters of power, there

will be less violence and declared war.

Athens, city in Greece was noted for written account of democracy. Athens constitution

is called a democracy because it respects the interests not of the minority but of the whole

people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law
(Cartwright). Augustus, a ruler in Rome had been telling his people that he was going to bring

peace to Rome. It was difficult for Augustus to end the war. Augustus had ended 100 years of

civil war and achieved over 40 years of internal peace and prosperity. His vision and power had

expanded the Roman Empire to become far more than a collection of countries. Instead, it was a

diverse society and enormous marketplace in which people across Europe, north Africa and the

Middle East could trade and travel under Romes protection. (Augustus). Alexander the Great

from Macedonia was noted for his military skills and he is still studied for his military techniques

today. He spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia

and northeast Africa, and he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by the

age of thirty, stretching from Greece to northwestern India (Gunther).

History provides a cultural literacy: the cultural capital to develop a lens through which

to understand historical names, dates, events, and concepts. (ASCD). Much of our humor,

names and business concepts originate from historical events and people. For example Can I

have your John Hancock? How would someone who never took a history class understand this

discourse?

We need passionate commitment to both job training and liberal learning, especially

when they seem to clash in opposition, so that we are ready to respond to the unexpected events

that life generates. (Perry). This is supporting the argument against STEM curriculum (Science,

technology, engineering, and mathematics), and creating a more theological education. It is

through written accounts and learning of history that as the human race we are able to learn from

our mistakes and become a better, more fair society. For example, now as humans we understand

in the United States that equality, democracy, separation of powers, separation of church and

state, freedom and other natural rights are best given to people with no questioning. This may be
an effect of the multiple history classes that students in the United States are required to take.

This is why it is important to take history classes, so that the history that we want to forget does

not repeat itself.

Skills like writing, and devices like bureaucracy are even older than Christianity, and

concerns that bother us still can be read into the cave paintings left behind by Stone Age hunters

as much as twenty thousand years ago. Only an acquaintance with the entire human adventure on

earth allows us to understand these dimensions of contemporary reality. (McNeill) Luckily we

have resources such as history classes and historic text to look back in time and analyze how an

earlier people responded to a situation and how this affected their lives such as rebellion, war,

impeachment. This is to our advantage because we have the tools to make the best decisions we

can for our society.

Society can be bettered regarding politics if we analyze history for ourselves and make

educated decisions through actions such as voting. Society can also be bettered politically if we

leave out a few of the evils we have studied in this course: violence, discrimination, and

oppression, all of which thankfully, we already have begun to leave in the past. It is only possible

to not repeat the unpleasant history if we learn that it happened and discuss the consequences of

such events.
 Works Cited

Cartwright, Mark. "Greek Government." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History

Encyclopedia, 17 Mar 2013. Web. 09 Aug 2017

"Augustus." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, Web. 09 Aug. 2017.

Gunther, John. "Alexander the Great." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Aug. 2017. Web.

09 Aug. 2017.

Ascd. "What Can History Teach Us Today?" ASCD Express 6.22 - What Can History Teach Us

Today? Web. 09 Aug. 2017.

Perry, David M. "How History Can Help Us Predict the Next Pope." The Atlantic. Atlantic

Media Company, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 09 Aug. 2017.

McNeill, William . "Why Study History." American Historical Association, 1985. Web. 09 Aug.

2017.