Kevin Suzuki APUSH P3 APUSH 40 Days Final Write-up When the first English settlers arrive at Plymouth in the

1600s, they had no clue what to expect of the New World, yet alone knew how large the continental land mass would eventually be. The first settlers created rural communities but as, life moved into the cities. That is why our country today is currently is mostly based on an urban society and life in the cities. The urbanization movement is arguably the most influential aspect of change between modern day America, and the America of our ancestors. Prior to the urbanization movement, people were reserved and more devoted to religion, thus they congregated at churches. Eventually, churches became educational facilities and as time progressed, the basic mindset of people changed from religious devotion to entertainment and leisure so people moved to cities because they could now find various methods of entertainment. Some of these earlier forms of entertainment involved dances, art galleries, movies and sporting events which are still influential parts in our culture today. Another key point about the urbanization movement is the fact that cities provided more jobs than traditional farms and other types of rural work. What people failed to realize was the fact that the amount of competition for jobs in the cities was very harsh and most people failed to strike rich. But for those who did such as Richard and Maurice McDonald (founders of McDonalds), Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen (founders of the L.A. Lakers), and Andrew Carnegie (steel industry), they reached great heights and their legacies have become renowned by everyone. Thus, the idea of striking rich or the rags to riches stories have created a universal goal for all Americans, called the American Dream. Cities which originally started as dirty and vile places have now changed to cleaner and more respectable places where people could go to exchange ideas and educate themselves in a larger population. And so even education followed the cities and colleges like NYU, University of Wisconsin and MIT became college towns. In addition of exchanging ideas by physically relocating to the cities, in this current age, technology has allowed people to exchange information and learn more about the world we live in today. Such technology involves social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and other sites like eBay and Amazon have allowed people to purchase goods from cities based on an online networking system. That is why as more people moved to cities, information had to become organized and so America entered the age of information technology and networking called the Information Age, during the late 1990s. Because of technology, Americans have become freer to express their own opinions and ideas and have become part of a larger global network. Thus the creation of cities created entertainment, jobs, education and technology which improve our lifestyles today and this 40 days project has allowed me as an American to understand the effects of large cities. It has also taught me why people migrated to cities and why the majority of our economic, social and political works occurs in cities and allowed me to create emphasis on a variety of topics which are influential to our world today. This project taught me how topics such as McDonalds, eBay and Michael Jackson shape American culture. That is why I chose concepts such as these, as well as others like the L.A. Lakers, religion, education, social media and the NFL because they allowed me to understand how urbanization affects us today and showed me important concepts that have created and defined America. I could also compare America prior to major urbanization and America after urbanization to see not only how our views have changed, but also analyze the effect of how our culture itself has changed. Other themes I chose abut such as the original unsanitary conditions about cities, the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War have allowed me to not only see the glory of American culture, but even the negative aspects. The 40 Days project reinforced my views that cities are the most influential developments in American History because not only do they provide jobs and the flow of ideas, but also represent the American Dream and the Rags to Riches Concept. By doing this project, I feel as if Americans in our current system of laissez faire economics, liberal education and free flow of information, have not only obtained basic human and civil rights as mentioned in the Constitution, but they now have the power to choose their own lives and their own career paths. Finally, the 40 Days project has allowed me to see what truly gives Americans the right to be an American and why freedom is one of the most important aspects of our culture that truly makes our own culture, American. That is why my project is the United States, shown as a large urban area to show how dependent our culture is today on cities, large industries and also shows how our culture has evolved from the early 1600s to our modern day culture of the new century. By creating different symbols, I could see the complete effect of urbanization and the migration to cities.