Top Law Schools in U.S. and Canada

The independence of the United States was declared on July 4, 1776, and this event is also known as the American Revolution. The independence of the United States was a result of the erosion of the relationship between metropolis and colony and resulted in the end of the colonial bond that existed between England and the Thirteen Colonies.

The United States emerged in a republican and federalist model, with the Enlightenment ideals as its great reference. These ideals made colonists defend individual freedoms and free trade, for example. Despite this, American independence was led by the colonial elite, who were irritated by the metropolis’ stance.

The process of independence of the United States had as starting point the divergence of interests between colonists and metropolis. This is because the position of England in relation to its colony has changed dramatically, mainly because this was seen as a source that would finance the development of the industrial process under way.

This resulted in increased taxes for the colonists, and this was what caused the colonists’ feeling of opposition to England to grow. Some of the laws enacted by that country, starting in the 1760s, were:

• Sugar Law
• Seal Law
• Hosting Law
• Townshend Acts

These laws enacted, for example, the increase in taxes on products such as sugar, wine, coffee, glasses, tea, etc; made it mandatory for a paid stamp to be on any type of document issued in the colony; and determined that the colonists would bear the costs of housing the soldiers established in the Thirteen Colonies.

England’s last determination that initiated the independence process was the Tea Law, which stipulated a monopoly on the sale of tea to an English company. This law revolted the settlers and led to a revolt known as the Boston Tea Party. In that event, settlers, disguised as Indians, invaded Boston Harbor and threw 340 boxes of tea into the sea.

The metropolis’ action in retaliation was harsh and became known as Intolerable Laws. This led the settlers to meet at the First Continental Congress of Philadelphia , in which a document was issued protesting against the English king’s measures. Soon after, the first conflicts between settlers and English began and the Second Continental Congress of Philadelphia was organized .

The United States Declaration of Independence was subsequently issued , resulting in a war against the British that lasted until 1781 and ended with the victory of the colonists and the ratification of American independence. The winners chose white, red and blue as the colors of the flag and the eagle as a symbol of the new country.

United States in the 19th century

The reorganization of the new country was not easy, especially politically. In addition, the process of economic and territorial growth in the United States was carried out at the expense of the exploitation of slave labor by Africans, brought there through the slave trade, and by indigenous people, who were forcibly evicted from their lands.

First highlight of the 19th century is the march to the west, the name given to the American territorial expansion process. This process took place through the purchase of territories: Louisiana , from the French (1803), Florida, from the Spanish (1819), and Alaska, from the Russians (1867).

Other territories were obtained through a war against Mexico, known as the Mexican-American War, which took place between 1846 and 1848, due to disagreements between the two countries over territorial issues. Mexico was financially compensated for its territorial losses, which reached about 40% of its original territory .

• Civil War

The Civil War or American Civil War was one of the most remarkable events in American history, it took place between 1861 and 1865 and resulted in the death of 600 thousand people. This armed conflict had as its main cause the issue of slave labor and its use in the new territories conquered in the West.

As mentioned, the North of the USA developed based on manufacturing, family farming and free labor, while the South developed based on plantation, monoculture and African slave labor. With independence, these differences deepened and each region of the country had a different opinion regarding the reasons for the conflict in question.

The southerners defended the expansion of slave labor to the new territories while the northerners were against it. This division reached the presidential race, and when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the southerners were extremely dissatisfied. The following year, they declared their secession (separation from the USA).

The separation of southerners from the Union was the factor that led to the beginning of the bloodiest conflict in US history. These were organized in the Confederate States of America and, over four years of conflict, they were defeated, reinstated to the Union and had to accept the abolition of slavery through the 13th Constitutional Amendment.

After the Civil War, the United States promoted the so-called Reconstruction of the South of the United States, completely destroyed after the war. The reconstruction of the South and the new status achieved by African Americans led to a response from Southern society, highly racist.

Thus, a series of laws (known as Jim Crow Laws ) restricting the civil rights of African Americans in the southern United States were passed, and terrorist groups that murdered blacks, such as the Ku Klux Klan, emerged.

If you consider pursing a law degree and decide to study in Northern America then you’ve come to the right place. Here, we provide rankings for all law schools in United States and Canada based on alumni reviews, graduate employment rate, faculty and student ratio, admissions acceptance rates, etc. In addition to the North American rankings, you can also see where each school is ranked world wide.

Among 63 top ranked law schools, 50 are found in United States of America, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and UC Bekely. All of the remaining 13 programs are from Canada. To check all other schools that are top ranked, please see the following table.

According to Countryaah, Mexico is also a country located in North America. And the top ranked law schools within the county of Mexico is Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

Dance in North America

The Indians originally had a rich dance culture, centered on religion and phenomena such as war, hunting, sun and rain. Among the larger tribes, remains are left of the inherited dances (see Native American music and dance). When Europeans immigrated to North America, they brought their own dances. Englishmen’s square dances are still practiced. The west coast was characterized by the fandangos of the Spanish ranchers. On the east coast there were from 1774 the sect of shakers, whose worship was accompanied by ecstatic dance.

The stage dance came to the United States in the 19th century with guest performances from Europe by groups and stars such as Fanny Elssler. However, America’s first native ballerina, Augusta Maywood, danced mostly in Europe. A domestic Danish culture first emerged in the 20th century. Isadora Duncan developed her antique-inspired free dance form, Louie Fuller experimented with electric lighting on swirling fabric, while Ruth St. Denis focused on exotic and religious themes. All three broke through in Europe, but St. Denis returned, opened in 1915 with husband Ted Shawn Denishawn School in Los Angeles and educated the first generation of choreographers, such as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. José Limon followed in their tracks. It was the time of the big dance dramas. The reaction to the narrative dance came with Merce Cunningham, a leading dance representative for the avant-garde movement. All-artists Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis created a visually advanced dance. In a later generation, operating from the 1950’s onwards, they worked with workshops, happenings and various types of multimedia.

The ballet gained a foothold when Lincoln Kirstein in 1933 invited Russian-born George Balanchine to the United States to open a school and form an ensemble, named in 1948 for the New York City Ballet. The repertoire was dominated by Balanchine’s own works, some 30 to music by Stravinsky. American Ballet Theater was founded in 1940 and has a repertoire of classic and contemporary works. However, the San Francisco Ballet is the United States oldest ballet ensemble, opened in 1933. Today, there are ballet theaters in several major cities, many operating since the early 1960’s. Dance Theater of Harlem grew out of a social dance project and has only black dancers. After the breakthrough of the sound film, 1930’s music films with dance elements became one of Hollywood’s most important genres. The choreographer and director Busby Berkeley was the specialist in ensemble dance. Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly and the virtuoso step dancers Nicholas Brothers were brilliant soloists. The dance also spread in Broadway’s musicals. Particularly memorable was Balanchine’s gangster ballet in “On Your Toes” (1936), Agnes de Mile’s quaint “Oklahoma!” (1943) and Jerome Robbin’s “West Side Story” (1957).

The black music and dance culture has exerted a tremendous influence on the youth’s dance entertainment, show business and dance theaters during the 20th century as Alvin Ailey’s exemplary American Dance Theater (founded in 1958). Music videos, launched in TV channels such as MTV, have become important as a forum for and mediators of modern dance forms. New York is the center of dance art of all kinds, but an important contribution to the spread of contemporary forms of movement is the dance institutions found at many colleges in the United States.