Nearly four centuries ago, our ancestors laid the foundation for what is now America. We have fought many wars, lost many battles, failed and prospered. America was built to be the strongest, freest nation in the world by some of the most determined and independent people in history. However, determination and independence are not the most unique qualities of an American, although they are both strong qualities. An American is a leader, someone who does not follow in someone else's footsteps but creates his own. Leadership has been a constant feature in America since the first Europeans set foot on its soil. It took the leadership of settlers – our ancestors – to form thriving colonies that ultimately became the foundation of our country. It took leadership and courage to declare independence from Britain over three hundred years ago. It took immense leadership to overcome the divide created by the civil war. Events like these pushed American leadership to its greatest limits, but through each difficult test, Americans managed to overcome and emerge stronger. Will everyone succeed in becoming a leader in America? Of course not, but that doesn't mean that leadership isn't our best quality, that it isn't what makes us, America, the free and brave country. We are free because many people grew tired of being followers of a country that only pushed them around and treated them like they were an insignificant nuisance, only in the New Earth for the benefit of the Great. -Brittany. In The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that they would not be forced to remain in the shadow that Britain had cast over them for so long (448-49). He expresses the beliefs of countless others when he comes together in the middle of a newspaper for the common good and proves that America is not a force to be reckoned with. An American is a leader, someone fortunate to live in the greatest nation in the world. An American is someone who can get the job done when needed without complaint, as so many others have done to shape this country. In his farewell speech, Ronald Reagan said: "After 200 years, two centuries, it still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and its shine has remained steady whatever the storm." As Reagan said in his speech, America has prospered enormously, thanks to the leadership and determination of leaders past and present. Without leadership, America would have been another failure in the history books. It would not be the land of opportunity nor the land of freedom. It wouldn't be America.