Write a 1,450- to 2,250-word paper that identifies and examines the history of terrorism from the American Revolution to present day, and the effect it has on governments, communities, businesses, and...

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The History of Te
orism
Introduction
Te
orism is a menace to mankind and this menace has its roots in the history dating back
to the great historical events like the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and so on.
The term te
orism has been defined in many ways. For an example, it can be denoted as an act
of “destruction of people or property by people not acting on behalf of an established
government for the purpose of redressing a real or imaginary injustice attributed to an established
government and aimed directly or indirectly at an established government” (“Definition of
Te
orism”, 2002). On the other hand the UN General Assembly defined te
orism as “Criminal
acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of te
or in the general public, a group of persons or
particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the
considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other
nature that may be invoked to justify them” (“Various Definitions of Te
orism”, n.d.). In both
the definitions it is observable that te
orism is an unjustified act of destruction that is committed
to gain some political or economic advantages, and such acts of te
orism is quite visible in
major historical events starting from the American Revolutionary War till the heinous attacks of
9/11.
The history of te
orism in the United States of America
The act of te
orism in the history of America can be traced back in the historical event
famously known as the Boston Tea Party. On December 16, 1773 a loosely knit secret
organization of the American colonists known as the Sons of Liberty, that supported the
American independence from the clutches of the British domination, illegally boarded three
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British East India ships, housing tons of tea, at the Boston Ha
or and eventually devastated the
storage of tea by throwing away almost 45 tons of tea into the ha
or (Zalman, n.d.), and this act
can surely be termed as an act of te
orism as the Sons of Liberty’s objective was to destruct
property of the British Empire in order to accomplish some political gains. It should be kept in
mind that modern historians and political analysts have argued that the Boston Tea Party incident
should be “considered as an act of te
orism, since it was property sabotage designed to
ing to
wide attention the political objectives of a non-state group, the American colonists” (Zalman,
n.d.).
But it would be a folly to identify the Boston Tea Party incident as the first act of
te
orism in the realm of American history and this is because way back in 1622 the trace of
te
orism can be found in the Powhatan Native Americans’ attack on the small town, Jamestown,
esulting in the killing of most of the residents of the town (“The Powhatan Indian Attack of
March 22, 1622”, n.d.). In this
utal attack the Powhatan troop killed more than three hundred
settlers including men, women, and children and the list of dead included the name of George
Thorpe who was known for his friendly stance towards the Indians, and moreover, the Indians
not only
utally killed their human opponents but also devastated the plantations, the livestock
and the crops (“The Powhatan Indian Attack of March 22, 1622”, n.d.). And all these actions
must be considered as nothing less than a heinous te
orist attack.
In the 1860s, the United States of America witnessed the formation of the country’s first
te
orist organization, the Ku Klux Klan. The Confederate Civil War veterans like Captain John
C. Lester, Major James R. Crowe, John D. Kennedy, Calvin Jones, Richard R. Reed, and Frank
O. McCord founded the first Ku Klux Klan in 1866 with the objective of establishing the
supremacy of the whites over the blacks, denying the latter some major civil rights through the
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implementation of criminal acts including hate crimes, lynching, and other acts of domestic
te
orism (“About the Ku Klux Klan”, n.d.). The Ku Klux Klan emerged as the first true te
orist
group in the United States after the Civil War and still now it is maintaining its threatening
presence though in a more advanced manner and with proper disguises. It is a fact that “Since its
inception, the Ku Klux Klan has seen several cycles of growth and collapse, and in some of these
cycles the Klan has been more extreme than in others. In all of its incarnations, however, the
Klan has maintained its dual heritage of hate and violence” (“About the Ku Klux Klan”, n.d.).
The history of the United States is shrouded by incidents that can be termed as acts of
te
orism. It would be wrong to think that the attacks of the 9/11 were the first te
orist attacks
experienced by the modern Americans and this is because America did experience the
utality
of te
orism way back in 1886 through the bombing at Haymarket Square in Chicago during a
labor rally (“Te
orism in Historical Perspective”, n.d.). Act of te
orism was also experienced by
Americans in 1910 at the Los Angeles Times Building on the occasion of a labor dispute and
also in 1963 at Birmingham (“Te
orism in Historical Perspective”, n.d.). Moreover, on
November 24, 1917 a bomb supposedly planted by anarchists killed nine police officers in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and on September 16, 1920 forty people were killed and three hundred
were wounded when an explosive-laden wagon exploded on Wall Street (“Te
orism in
Historical Perspective”, n.d.). So, it is observable that before the 9/11 attacks United States and
its populace had the experience of how
utal te
orism and te
orist attacks can be.
Influence of the Russian Revolution and the Irish Republican Army on te
orism in the
western hemisphere
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It is an interesting fact that the Russian Revolution and the te
orist acts committed
during this Revolution actually influenced the acts of...