Empathy vs Sympathy

Sympathy-the fact or power of sharing the feelings of another, especially in sorrow or trouble; fellow feeling, compassion, or commiseration. 
Empathy-the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

Dictionary.com makes these definitions seem very textbook when in fact they aren't, well at least one of them. Sympathy is a very standard word, to have a feeling that another person has. Empathy on the other hand gets confused a lot. Many people think that to empathize with someone it is the same as sympathy, but to actually experience what the other peson is feeling. The fact is that this  is not 100% true. A person can take something similar that happened to them and apply this to their situation and imagine what it is like for the other person. For example, if your friend just failed the latest math quiz, meanwhile you didn't do your webassign then it is pretty to see what your friend is going through. Sympathy and empathy are very similar to each other. Sympathy and empathy are a lot like rectangles and squares, a square is always a rectangle, but a rectangle is not always a square. When empathizing you are always sympathizing with another person, but when sympathizing, you are not always empathizing. 

Empathy is a crucial element for history so historians (or history students and teachers) can read about the past and understand the troubles of the past and why people reacted the way they did. 

American history before the civil war

In 1607 the first permanent English settlement was started in Jamestown, Virginia. The first slave ships set sail for America in 1619, meanwhile the pilgrims arrived a year later. From 1626 to 1732 the 13 colonies were established. And these colonies grew rapidly by over 1.3 million people in a 60 year span. The United States of America was impacted by Britain needing to tax them even more due to the French and Indian war, but the colonists rejected this motion. In response to this, a continental congress is called in Philadelphia in 1775, discussing how to handle and defend from the British. Only a year later was the Declaration of Independence written up. 5 years after the Declaration was signed America's first government the Articles of Confederation was written up. In 1787, The US acquires more land with the Northwest Ordinance, and the constitutional convention discuses federal government voting, as well as a brand new government. This is where the Constitution was made. In 1791, the bill of rights was written, making the first amendments to the constitution. The US expands again with the Louisiana purchase in 1801, and again nearly 20 years later with the Missouri compromise . 1808, slaves can no longer be imported into America. The US again expands from the fallout of the Mexican war. Slavery is banned in states acquired from Mexico, but nowhere else. The US bought New Mexico and Southern Arizona in 1853 with the Gadsden purchase. The Republican party was found due to the basis of opposing slavery. The supreme court overturned a part of the Missouri compromise and said that the spread of slavery could not be prohibited. In 1861, the deadliest war in American history begins with the civil war, before the civil war and slavery come to a halt in 1865. The United States was able to grow as a nation by being able to trade and sell their crops such as cotton, and tobacco. Then later using this money to buy land such as the Gadsden and Louisiana purchase. The USA was able to stay united because of things like the Missouri compromise, where the north and the soputh compromised with slavery so that everyone went home happy.