Life+and+Times+21+G6

=Life and Times=

Life and times for Americans today has changed an enormous amount since your time, John and Abigail. Almost every aspect of what life was back then, has changed in some way into what we now know as everyday life. Each and every aspect has changed in order for us to keep up with the world around us. The world is changing faster now then it ever has in any other part of the Earth's existence. Due to this everything from family size, to transportation, to medication has changed dramatically from your time. I will now share with you how each of these things have changed. I think you will be quite surprised.

==Family== The traditional American family has changed quite a bit over the past couple hundred years. The woman of the household doesn't just run the house by taking care of the children and cleaning as a full time job anymore. In fact they, on average, make about the same amount of income as the man of the household. Almost all children are sent to school for five days a week, little to no children are home schooled anymore. One thing that i find quite surprising about today's families are that there are basically no more arranged marriages in America, but the divorce rate continues to rise year after year. Today the "traditional family" in America consists of a father, a mother, and the average amount of children, 2.3. At least that is what it consists of now, gay marriage is starting to be legalized in various states, making these statistics to soon change. Families do not own slaves anymore, and haven't since 1865, when slavery was abolished. All of the changes prove that the American family has changed considerably within the past couple hundred of years.

Work
People's occupations are another thing that has changed within the past couple hundred of years, as well as just within the past ten years. Back in the early 1800's people would mainly work right at home on their farmhouse making just enough money for the necessities for them and their family. About ten years ago almost every working person had to travel to their job, whether it was just a couple miles or about fifty miles. Now the times are changing again. With all this new technology, the internet, computers, cell phones, and the increasing high gas prices, people are now starting to work from their homes once again, just not in the same way as it was in the 1800's. Businesses are becoming easier to run and manage from the comfort of people's homes, with everyone, whether employees or customers, just one click away. In most families, both parents work full time jobs and kids the age of sixteen or older also work part time jobs. With industry and business growing and expanding constantly this forced people's work habits to change tremendously since the 1800's.

Religious Practices
Even people's religious practices have changed since your time. Many of the the original thirteen colonies were established by English settlers who wished to practice their own religion without discrimination; the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by Puritans, Pennsylvania by Quakers, and Maryland by Roman Catholics. That idea still stands with each of the fifty states today, following the first amendment, causing the United States to be the first nation to have no official religion. However, the majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians, approximately 76%, while non-Christian religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and others, make up about another 4% of the adult population. Another 15% of Americans identify themselves as having no religious affiliation. So although the idea of no set religion is still applied, there has been quite some change in the type of religious beliefs in America.

Government[[image:Barack_Obama_Capitol_21_G6.jpg width="150" height="187" align="right" caption="Barack Obama" link="http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/assets/images/barack-obama-1.jpg"]]
America's government has also gone through some revisions. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. Through a system of separation of powers and the system of "checks and balances," each of these branches has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its own authority, in turn, regulated by the other branches. The election process of the President is done very similar to how it was back in the late 1700's. Votes are cast by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation in both houses of congress. We are now under the power of the forty fourth President of the United States, President Barack Obama. He is the first African American to hold the office. Today people under the age of eighteen can not vote, even with the voting age this low only about 63% of eligible voters actually voted in the 2008 election.

Transportation
Transportation has undergone a huge transformation withing the past couple hundred of years. Horse drawn carriages are a thing of the past, in fact horses are rarely ever used for movement anymore, they are mainly used for the enjoyment of riding. There are now many ways for people in America to get where they need to be, no matter what the distance, or whether it be by land, by sea, or by air. The main way of transportation for many Americans is the car. Almost every single family in America owns at least one motorized vehicle. With America consisted of over four million miles of roads, cars are the main source of transportation. For greater distances many Americans rely on the means of airplanes or trains. Major airports are located in each of the fifty states, making it easy to travel great distances to where ever you need to. Transportation has gone through lots of change to get people where they need to be faster and more efficiently.

Medication
Another great advancement America has made is the use and practices of different medications. When people are sick in bed now, they are usually out and about on their normal routine within a couple of days, which is quite a bit different from the late 1700's when someone was sick in bed, they would almost never get out. We now know about germs and how we can't prevent them from being spread, and a license is required to legally operate or examine ailing patients. There are now approximately 7,569 hospitals nationwide in the United States. There are almost medications for any patients ailment, and within a couple of days to weeks, the patient should be back to normal. Now when someone breaks a bone, we don't have to settle for amputation, we have the ability to stabilize the area, and with it stabilized give it enough time to heal. We have medications for anything from a headache to cancer. Medication has made tremendous progress since the late 1700's.