Light And The Glory Essays - Stamp Act, Quartering Acts,

Light And The Glory The Light and the Glory The United States Constitution has been the bedrock for the longest lasting government in all history. Why is it that our constitution still exists after more than two hundred years? Is it the incredible minds of those that framed it, or is it something else? In 1620, the Pilgrims departed from Holland and set out for America. Ten years later, they were followed by the Puritans. The Puritans and the Pilgrims experienced incredible hardships, which forced their reliance on God. There was little to eat, and shelter was no more than an uninsulated log cabin. As new generations grew up, they began to learn how to grow and harvest crops, which supplied them with plenty to eat, and comfortable lives. They did not have to depend on God for their survival. Gradually, as the people strayed further away from God, there began to be witchcraft and many people with no moral standards at all. These once godly people had forgotten how God had miraculously provided for their grandparents. By the mid 1700's, America was in desperate need of a revival. This burden was laid on a man's heart whose name was Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards, a graduate of Yale at seventeen, began and sustained a revival that changed the course of American history. Along with George Whitefield and countless other circuit riding preachers, Jonathan Edwards brought America down on her knees before God in repentance. America was indeed a new nation. It was about this time that America began to view itself as one nation, not just a handful of independent colonies. The only problem was that the Americans were not the only ones who had settled in the New World. They were bordered on the north and west by the French and on the south by the Spanish. If anyone attempted to settle on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains, chances of survival were slim because of hostile Indians and cruel French trappers. America was far from having enough manpower to take on the French all by themselves. When King George III realized that his prized possession, the American colonies, was in danger of being taken over by the French, he sent troops to push the French- American boundary line deeper into the interior of the continent. This turned into an all out war known as the French and Indian War. Although the beginning of the war favored the French, the British eventually became successful in setting the French-American boundary well past the Appalachian Mountains. Along with the ?Great Awakening,? the French and Indian War would be another turning point in American history because the colonists now realized that they were capable of building an army. The war also unveiled future heroes such as George Washington. Most of all, it brought the colonies together in unity. Relations were now beginning to change between the colonies and England. The colonists ?were beginning to regard themselves as Americans rather than Englishmen.? The colonies were now on a much higher spiritual level than England. King George again realized that his prize possession was in danger of being lost. However, this time it was the colonists themselves that were the threat. To stop the growing rebellion in America, George III appointed a new prime minister George Grenville. Grenville decided to tighten England's control of the colonial settlement past the Appalachian Mountains. This would result in the ?Proclamation of 1763? which canceled all the land grants given to the colonies in the past by other kings and parliaments. He also laid new taxes on the colonists that violated their rights because the colonists had no representatives in the English parliament. The ?Stamp Act? and the ?Quartering Act? were just a few of the burdens that Grenville laid on the colonists. William Pitt and Edmund Burke were two men in the English parliament who encouraged Grenville to lift the tariffs and taxes. When Grenville arrogantly refused to lift any of the tariffs or taxes, it was one of the most costly mistakes he would ever make. Burdensome taxes were enraging the colonists. They did owe England a war debt of 37,000,000 dollars, but the ?Quartering Act? had nothing to do with paying money

Countries Using the Euro as Their Currency

Countries Using the Euro as Their Currency On January 1, 1999, one of the largest steps toward European unification took place with the introduction of the euro as the official currency in 12 countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain). The establishment of a common currency had the aims of greater economic integration and the unification of Europe as a common market. It also would enable easier transactions between people of different countries by having fewer conversions from currency to currency. Creating the euro was also seen as a way to keep the peace due to the economic integration of the countries. Key Takeaways: The Euro The goal of the establishment of the Euro was to make European commerce easier and more integrated.The currency debuted in 2002 in a dozen countries. More have since signed on, and additional countries plan to.The euro and the dollar are key to global markets. At first,  the euro was used in trades between banks and tracked alongside the countries currencies. Banknotes and coins came out a few years later for the public to  use in everyday  transactions. Residents of the first European Union countries that adopted the euro began using the banknotes and coins on January 1, 2002. People had to use up all their cash in the countries old paper money and coinage before mid-year that year, when they would no longer be accepted in monetary transactions and the euro would be used exclusively. The Euro: â‚ ¬ The symbol for the euro is a rounded E with one or two cross lines: â‚ ¬. Euros are divided into euro cents, each euro cent  consisting of one one-hundredth of a euro. Euro Countries The euro is one of the worlds most powerful currencies, used by more than 175 million Europeans in 19 of  28 EU member countries, as well as some countries that are not formally members of the EU. Countries currently using the euro: Andorra (not an EU member)AustriaBelgiumCyprusEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceIrelandItalyKosovo (not all countries recognize Kosovo as an independent nation)LatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaMonaco (not in the EU)Montenegro (not in the EU)The NetherlandsPortugalSan Marino (not in the EU)SlovakiaSloveniaSpainVatican City (not in the EU) Territories that use the euro: Akrotiri and Dhekelia (British territory)French Southern and Antarctic LandsSaint Bathelemy (overseas collectivity of France)Saint Martin (overseas collectivity of France)Saint Pierre and Miquelon (overseas collectivity of France) Countries that do not use the euro, but are part of the Single Euro Payments Area, which allows simplified bank transfers: BulgariaCroatiaCzech RepublicDenmarkHungaryIcelandLiechtensteinNorwayPolandRomaniaSwedenSwitzerlandUnited Kingdom Recent and Future Euro Countries On January 1, 2009, Slovakia started using the euro, and Estonia began using it on January 1, 2011. Latvia joined in on January 1, 2014, and Lithuania began using the euro January 1, 2015. EU members the United Kingdom, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, and Sweden dont use the euro as of 2019. New EU member countries are working toward becoming part of the eurozone. Romania planned to start using the currency in 2022, and Croatia planned to adopt it in 2024.   Countries economies are evaluated every two years to see if theyre strong enough to adopt the euro, using figures such as interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, gross domestic product, and government debt. The EU takes these measures of economic stability to evaluate whether a new eurozone country would be less likely to need a fiscal stimulus or bailout after joining. The financial crisis in 2008 and its fallout, such as the controversy of whether Greece should be bailed out or leave the eurozone, put some strain on the EU. Why Some Countries Dont Use It Great Britain and Denmark are the two countries that, as part of the EU, opted out of adopting the currency. Great Britain even voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit vote in 2016, so as of 2019, the currency issue looked to be a moot point. The pound sterling is a major currency in the world, so leaders didnt see the need to adopt anything else at the time the euro was created. Countries that dont use the euro maintain the independence of their economies, such as the ability to set their own interest rates and other monetary policies; the flip side is that they must manage their own financial crises and cant go to the European Central Bank for assistance. However, not having an economy interdependent with those of other countries might make some sense. The countries that opted-out of the euro could be more nimble in dealing with a widespread crisis that affects countries differently, such in the case of Greece in 2007–2008. It took years for bailouts of Greece to be decided upon, for example, and Greece couldnt set its own policies or take its own measures. A hot-button issue at the time was whether bankrupt Greece was going to stay in the eurozone or bring back its currency.   Denmark doesnt use the euro but has its currency, the krone, tied to the euro to maintain the countrys economic stability and predictability and to avoid major fluctuations and market speculation on its currency. It is pegged  within a 2.25 percent range of 7.46038 kroner to the euro. Before the creation of the euro, the krone was pegged to the German  Deutsche mark. Euro vs. Dollar The dollar has historically been used as a common currency internationally, just like English has been a common language between people of different countries. Foreign countries and investors see U.S. Treasury bonds as safe places to put their money because of a stable government  behind the dollar; some countries even hold their financial reserves in dollars. The currency also has size and liquidity, which are needed to be a major world player. When the euro was first established, the exchange rate was set based on the European Currency Unit, which was based on a collection of European currencies. It generally runs a little higher than the dollar. Its historical low was 0.8225 (October 2000), and its historical high was 1.6037, reached in July 2008 during the subprime mortgage crisis and the failure of the Lehman Brothers financial services company. Professor Steve Hanke, writing in Forbes in 2018, postulated that setting an exchange rate zone of stability formally between the euro and dollar would keep the entire global market stable because of the prolonged recession that happened worldwide following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.