There are many reasons that America is great. In fact, that it is very difficult to narrow these down into categories, much less, five specific characteristics. In my opinion, a few things that make America great are the freedoms we have, our unique government, our amazing pastimes, the great educational opportunities our country offers, and last, but definitely not least, the Great American Hot Dog.

In America, we have the freedom to live our lives pretty much any way that we like, as long as we do not cause harm to others. These are called our civil rights. The most common rights we have are freedom of speech, religion, and press, as stated in the First Amendment of our Nation's Constitution. These three freedoms give us so much more than we acknowledge. In many countries, you can be thrown into jail or even killed for speaking out against someone. If all countries had religious freedom, there would be fewer martyrs dying by standing up against their governments strict national religion laws. For example, in Pakistan in 1997, a 17 year old girl and her 18 year old sister, were put on trial, and then put to death for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thousands of martyrs die yearly throughout the world for standing up for their religious beliefs against their governments. The press in other countries is often not even tolerated, or is dictated by the government.

America has a wonderfully unique government. You can search the world over and not find a government as great as America's. The systems of checks and balances, separation of powers, and limited authority guarantees that no one branch of our government has too much power. The documents that our nation is founded on are amazing also. The Declaration of Independence established our freedom from...