The north and south developed very differently:
1. North- was industrialized. Immigrants flooded the north in search of jobs.
2. South- was agricultural and rural.
In 1846, Congress debated the Wilmot Proviso- a bill that wanted to outlaw slavery in the new territories America had just received from Mexico. The northerners liked this bill- they didn’t want anymore slave states, because this would mean more southern representation in Congress. The south didn’t like the bill because they wanted slaves. The south felt that slaves are property and the constitution protects a person’s property.
In 1849, California asked to be admitted into the union as a free state. The southerners felt that California should be a slave state because the weather is warm, and good for slaves. Zachary Taylor also opposed California’s entry into the union as a free state. He felt that the slavery issue shouldn’t be a congressional issue; every state should come into the union however they want. The southerners were extremely passionate about the slavery issue- they felt that it shouldn’t be a back burner issue.
When Congress met, it was a very volatile Congress that met. There were three intense issues on the table:
1. Statehood for California.
2. The north felt that at least the capital district should abolish slavery, because how could the capital itself have slaves?
3. Fugitive Slave law- this law had been passed almost in the beginning of the formation of the nation. It stated that if a runaway slave ever reached the north and was spotted by a northerner, the northerner had to send him back to the south. The south felt that this law was ignored and that the north was helping runaway slaves. They wanted the laws tightened.
The south was very tense. They felt that if their need for slaves wasn’t going to be understood, they would have to leave the nation.
At this moment of tension, Clay came up with the Compromise of 1850-
1. California is a free state.
2. Strict Fugitive Slave laws.
3. Popular Sovereignty in the new territory- decide by themselves if they want to be a slave state or a free state.
4. The Federal government gave Texas ten million dollars to settle the border dispute in favor of New Mexico.
This caused sparked a tremendous debate in Congress- Daniel Webster was for the compromise and John Calhoun was against it. The debates went on for two years, and then they both died.
A new young fellow, Stephen Douglas said that the compromise should be passed in pieces. Taylor died in office, and Millard Fillmore became the new president. He was in favor of the compromise.
The Compromise of 1850 passed in pieces. It made the Fugitive Slave law stricter. The north was upset because they felt that the Fugitive Slave law was nasty. The north tried to ignore the Fugitive Slave law after it became stricter. Some abolitionists tried to help runaway slaves, but many northerners did follow the law. Abolitionists together with the freed slaves formed the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was a conductor of this railroad.
Harriet Beacher Stowe wrote a fictitious novel called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, in which she made it very graphically clear to all who read it about the evils of slavery. Many southerners wrote their own books about slavery.
In 1854, the issue of slavery erupted once again. Stephan Douglas, the senator from Illinois, proposed that the Nebraska territory should be divided into Nebraska and Kansas. Douglas had a few different motives for this:
1. He thought that most of the nation wants to see territories form into states.
2. He felt it would bring unity because everyone would be the same- they would all be states and have representatives in Congress. He thought it would rid the country of the lawlessness of territories.
3. He thought that everyone would be happy with this because the territory was being dived into one free state and one slave state.
4. Douglas had his own personal reason- he lived in Illinois and owned land. Douglas wanted a railroad in his town because this would up the value of his property. Douglas knew that the south would never vote for a railroad through his home town, so he offered them popular sovereignty in the land north of 36’’ 30°.
This act was heavily debated in Congress, but it passed.
Kansas is now getting ready for statehood. Now, the people in Kansas are going to vote whether or not they want slaves. Many people both for and anti slavery flooded Kansas. Abolitionist John Brown killed hundreds of people who were pro slavery. The violence didn’t end there, and spread to Congress- one senator clubbed another senator.
As the debate over slavery grew more intense, old political parties fell apart and new parties formed. The Whig party now lost political power because the party was dividing into pro and anti slavery.
Franklin Peirce won the election of 1852. He was a democrat.
A new political party was now forming- the American party. This party was anti immigrants. At this time, many immigrants were flooding the country. Nativists were worried because they felt that the immigrants:
1. Were taking away job opportunities.
2. Were from a different religion. Many immigrants were Roman Catholic. Nativists felt that they would therefore listen to the pope before the government.
This party became nicknamed the Know Nothing party because there were many secrets meetings and dealings to ostracize immigrants. When people would ask party members about their party, they would say they knew nothing.
Anti slavery parties formed now such as the Free Soil party. They opposed the extension of slavery into the new territories.
Northerners weren’t against slavery out of compassion for the blacks. Most of the north actually discriminated against the blacks, making them live in segregated areas. While there were some abolitionists, most northerners were against slavery from an intellectual standpoint- they felt it wrecks the free enterprise system because slaves aren’t getting paid, and this knocks workers out of the picture.
A new Republican party formed. It didn’t want slavery extended in the new territories. It took on many view points not related to slavery. The Republican party was a little broader than the American and Free Soil parties. They put up John Freemont as a candidate in the election of 1856.
The Democrats put up James Buchanan and he won. Buchanan was out of the country during the Kansas issue so people felt that he was out of slavery. Buchanan was the only bachelor as president. He led during a very volatile time in US history and wasn’t a very strong leader.
There were many hot issues:
1. Dred- Scott case- Dred Scott was a slave who came to the Supreme Court in 1857. Dred lived down south with his master, and then his master moved north. Dred went from Missouri to Illinois to Wisconsin, and was freed. When his master went back south, Dred became a slave again. Dred wanted to be free because he used to be free. This case reached the Supreme Court ni Dred Scott vs. Sanford. Five out of the nine judges were southerners. Chief Justice Roger Taney issued a shocking ruling:
a. Blacks aren’t citizens and have no right to petition in the Supreme Court.
b. Slaves are property- the US government pledges to protect people’s property, therefore the Missouri Compromise of 1820 is unconstitutional because it said that one could own a slave in the south, but not in the north.
c. This was a fabulous victory for the south and a resounding defeat for the north.
2. In 1858, another slavery issue arose- the Lincoln-Douglas debate. A position for the state senator of Illinois was open and both Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were vying for the position.
a. Douglas- well known politician, natty dresser, short, stout, was a dynamic speaker.
b. Lincoln- tall, skinny, wore rumpled clothing which he often slept in, was a newcomer to politics, simple speaker- spoke in vernacular.
c. The two were involved in debates across the state of Illinois, which captured the nation. Slavery was a major topic of the debates, but none of them discussed ending slavery where it already existed. They discussed slavery in the new territories. Douglas wanted popular sovereignty in the new territories, but Lincoln didn’t. Lincoln added the idea of slavery being a moral wrong. Douglas won the senate seat, and Lincoln emerged on the political scene.
3. Harpers Ferry- in 1859, John Brown said that a voice from god spoke to him and he felt that he had to free all the slaves. Brown prepared a slave rebellion- he’ll go with a group of people and they’ll attack Harpers Ferry, Virginia where there was a federal arsenal. Then they’ll give out the guns to all the slaves and they’ll kill their masters and slavery will end. Brown went with a couple of men- he tried to attack and was caught and later hanged. This awoke a passion in American people- the north felt that Brown was a martyr and the south felt that this is what happens to a treasonous young man.
The election of 1860 was a four-way race. Lincoln ran as a Republican. While he didn’t receive a single southern vote, he still won. The southern states felt that obviously they didn’t have that much political clout and that America was going on a path different than theirs because Lincoln made it clear that he didn’t care for slavery.
The south felt that they should now secede. In December of 1860, South Carolina broke away. By February of 1861, six more state seceded. These seven states formed their own country called the Confederate States of America. They set up their own government and Jefferson Davis became president. Their constitution was somewhat similar to the US’s with two basic differences:
1. Slavery is legal across the country.
2. There is limited federal power, but the real power comes from the states.
Lincoln took office in March. He didn’t want to start a war with the Confederacy. Although Lincoln felt that it was illegal to secede, he waited. The Confederacy began taking over legal buildings in the south such as post offices and forts. Lincoln didn’t want to do anything confrontational so he sent food to the legal buildings. The south attacked Fort Sumter and took it over. At this point, Lincoln felt that he was going to go to war because he wasn’t starting up, he was just responding.
The Civil war has now begun. The remaining slave states took sides- four more seceded and Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri remained with the union. Everyone thought that this would be a nice, quick, easy war and both sides thought that the victory would be theirs. Both sides had advantages over the other side:
1. North-
a. More people.
b. Better technology-
i. Better production of food.
ii. Railroads to transport food and soldiers.
c. Very able president.
2. South- had better generals- Robert E. Lee was a West Point trained general. All the south had to do to win the war was do nothing- they broke away and now the north has to win them back. The south was eager to defend their way of life- they had a passion about what they were fighting for.
Many battles were fought. The single bloodiest day was the Battle of Antietam, Maryland. The north forced Lee to retreat. History says that had the north chased Lee back to Virginia, they would’ve won.
The south had hope that England would join them. The south and England had a great relationship because the south sent England cotton, which the English depended on. However England didn’t join because:
1. They no longer needed southern cotton so desperately because they found other sources.
2. Lincoln was being pressured to free the slaves, and in January of 1863 he succumbed and issued the Emancipation Proclamation- freed all slaves in the rebelling territories. Lincoln didn’t view the Confederacy as a separate country, rather as rebels and he felt that he could make laws for them. The war used to be an intellectual war, a war about state rights. It now changed to a war for slavery; people were now fighting either for or against slavery. England had already freed their slaves in 1833 and wasn’t going to join the war pro slavery.
This made the south realize that if they lose the war, they’ll lose their whole way of life. They now fought with extreme intensity.
The north and south both had dissenters- people who were on a side but didn’t agree. Some people stayed neutral. Both sides suspended the writ of habeas corpus- this showed Lincoln’s power. He took away the people’s rights during the war. Suspending the writ of habeas corpus was wrong, but after the war was over, Congress said that it was indeed right because this action was needed to maintain order.
In 1863, General Lee attacked Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After three bloody days, the north won. This was the bloodiest battle of the Civil war. The battle was the turning point of the war. The Battle of Vicksburg was another defeat for the south. The north was now on a steady pace to victory. Lee wanted to resign, but wasn’t given permission, as he led the south very well strategically.
A few months after the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln came and gave a short speech known as the Gettysburg Address. This speech spoke about the preservation of the union.
After these loses, the south was exhausted, worn down and many southerners were becoming disillusioned. Jefferson Davis was accused of being a lousy president. Meanwhile, Lincoln made Ulysses S. Grant the general over the entire northern army. Grant told Lincoln that he won’t stop fighting until the north won.
In spring of 1865, Grant and Lee met in Appomattox, Virginia. Lee surrendered there. Lincoln told Grant to be generous with Lee:
1. Southerners were allowed to keep their rifles for hunting.
2. The Confederate soldiers were paroled.
Legacy of the war-
The war changed the nation in many ways- the issue of states rights was over and the supremacy of the federal government was established- secession was never discussed again. During the Civil war was the first time there was a draft and the first time an income tax was placed on people- the war was very costly.
The Civil war affected the economy:
1. North- was booming. Factories churned out war materials and the federal government helped businesses by building railroads.
2. South- was devastated. The war was fought on southern territory and many southern lands were destroyed. Slavery was now over therefore the entire way of southern life ended.
The war intensified the gap between the north and the south.
Another change that occurred was through woman. Over the course of the war, many women took over men’s jobs such as working in the fields and factories. There were also nurses who went to the battlefield to help wounded soldiers. The hygiene on the battlefield was terrible, and some died because of it. One of these women was Clara Barton. After the war, she started the Red Cross to continue her good work.
The human cost of the war was tremendous- 500,000 died and 600,000 were wounded.
This war changed the way wars were now fought- they used rifle guns. This made shooting more accurate. They also had iron clad ships.
The lives of the African Americans changed drastically for the better. In 1865, the thirteenth amendment was passed. It abolished slavery in the United States of America.
Five days after Lee’s surrender, Lincoln was shot at Ford’s theater by John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer.
Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction was a very mild program- he wanted it to be peaceful. Lincoln said that as long as they pledged loyalty they could come back into the nation. Lincoln’s plan couldn’t be carried out though because he was shot.
Vice president Andrew Johnson took over for Lincoln. He wasn’t as strong as Lincoln and was faced with tremendous opposition in Congress. He wanted to carry out Lincoln’s plan but Congress was full of Radical Republicans- they were strong people who wanted the south to be dealt with in a harsh manner.
The Radical Republicans were angry at the white south and wanted to help the black south. One way of punishing the whites was to be extra nice to the blacks. One famous Radical Republican was Thaddeus Stevens- he was so into them that he wanted to be buried with them. The Radicals in Congress didn’t want to be nice to the white south:
1. They set up the Freed Men’s Bureau- to help freed slaves set up lives. They gave them money for hospitals and for education.
2. They passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866- to give the blacks equality. It made all black codes illegal. Black codes were white laws to make blacks suppressed.
Johnson vetoed these acts. He said that they’re giving too much power to the Federal government. Congress overrode Johnson’s veto and the bills became laws.
Congress went ahead and passed the fourteenth amendment, which gave full citizenship to the blacks. Johnson encouraged states not to ratify it and it wasn’t ratified until 1868.
In the 1866 elections, the Radicals won enough seats in Congress to override Johnson’s vetoes regularly. This is an example of somewhere where one side has too much power.
They passed the Reconstruction act:
1. If any of the states managed to squeak in and reinstate themselves as a state during Lincoln or Johnson’s time, they’re invalid.
2. The south is now under military control.
3. The south shouldn’t think about reentering the union unless they ratify the fourteenth amendment.
4. Black men now got the right to vote.
Congress was looking for a way to impeach Johnson. They knew that Johnson wanted to fire the Secretary of War. Congress now passed the Office of Tenure act which stated that it’s illegal to fire a cabinet member. If it is done, it’s ground for impeachment. Johnson fired the Secretary of War and was impeached (also because he used vulgar language in Congress). The Senate found him not guilty by one vote.
In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant became president. Grant was a US general during the Civil war, so he used the tactic of “waving the bloody shirt”- look what I did for the nation, now vote for me.
In 1870, the fifteenth amendment was passed- it gave blacks the right to vote.
By 1870, all the Confederate states had joined the union. Reconstruction was heavily in effect- the Radicals were heavily involved in the south. They had military control and were making sure that the whites were giving the blacks their rights of equality. They were also there to build up the south post war.
Down south, there were people who joined the Republican Party:
1. African Americans that were down south were very excited with the opportunity to be a part of political parties and they loved what the Republicans were doing.
2. Scalawags- they were poor, white southerners. They were happy that the rich shouldn’t be powerful. Additionally, there were now business opportunities to make money.
3. Carpet baggers- they were northerners that came down south. Some that came were very idealistic- they wanted to change the south. Some were doctors, school teachers, etc. They came down south to help.
A lot of cartoons about the scalawags and carpet baggers were negative- they portrayed them as being friends with the black only because they wanted money.
After the Civil war, many blacks moved north looking for opportunities. Many stayed down south and benefited from the opportunities that were available for them. Some blacks were even a part of Congress.
During the years of reconstruction, the blacks were able to vote. The Radical Republicans controlled the white southerners. Schools were set up for the blacks. The Freed Men’s Bureau helped blacks find family members, readjust and set up schools.
Most of the blacks were promised “forty acres and a mule” during the war, but the government didn’t come through. Many blacks ended up being sharecroppers. Sharecroppers worked white land. They were given all the necessary materials but two- thirds of the crop went to the owner. Sharecroppers usually remained poor their whole lives. If they were successful, they became tenant farmers- rented the land from the white man. They had to pay for their own materials, but received all the profit. Cotton was no longer king in the south because synthetic materials were taking their place.
The collapse of reconstruction-
1. Many white southerners hated reconstruction. They hated the military rule and the fact that the blacks were getting equality. A secret group called the Ku Klux Klan was formed to fight reconstruction. They were violent and would try to frighten blacks away from the voting poles.
2. As white southerners regained their seats in Congress, they fought the Radicals.
3. Grant’s government was corrupt.
4. Economic crisis- Panic of 1873.
Many American people said that they should move on from reconstruction and deal with the issues at hand.
Grant served for two terms. In the next election:
1. Republicans- Rutherford B. Hayes.
2. Democrats- Samuel Tilden.
Many southerners were now becoming Democrats because the powerful whites hated the Republicans. The south was leaning more and more democratic until it came to be known as the “Solid South”. Tilden won the popular votes, but was one vote short of the electoral majority. The decision went to the House of Representatives. A political bargain was made- the southern senators said that they’ll let Hayes win but they have to end reconstruction- they have to get every Republican out and restore home rule. They also had to make sure there would be a southern cabinet member. Reconstruction now officially ended.
The minuet the Radicals left the south, the whites took over and crushed the blacks. They put all the Jim Crowe laws into effect- the laws of segregation:
1. The blacks could no longer vote.
2. Separate schools.
3. Separate parks.
4. Separate busses.
5. Set up a poll tax.
6. Literacy test.
If someone did pay the tax, they usually failed the test. The Ku Klux Klan frightened anyone who got past both the poll tax and literacy test. The whites didn’t have to worry about these new laws because they fell under the Grandfather clause- if your grandfather voted, then you’re exempt.
Some say that reconstruction was successful because at least the amendments were passed.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
History: Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Expanding Markets and the Nation Moves West
At this point in history, the US experienced tremendous economic change- America industrialized. This is known as a market revolution. Now, people did business very differently. They bought and sold goods instead of producing on their own. This process depends on capitalism. Capitalism is the system in which private businesses or private individuals control production to make a profit. Capitalism depends on entrepreneurs to invest in the businesses.
Life for farmers changed too:
1. New machinery
2. Improved technology
3. Cash crops
Inventions and improvements that changed US lives:
1. Vulcanized rubber- treated rubber that resists cold and heat. This was invented by Charles Goodyear
2. Sewing machine- was invented by Elias Howe and perfected by I.M. Singer. The sewing machined changed life for woman; they could now make a dress 75% quicker.
3. Telegraph- was invented by Samuel Morse. The telegraph revolutionized communication between cities. Railroads used the telegraph to regulate the train schedule.
4. Steam boat- was invented by Robert Fulton. The steam boats were a new way to carry freight down rivers. They were very exciting but extremely dangerous.
The railroads became more popular than the steam boat because they were faster, but they were expensive. Eventually the price dropped and slowly, the country began building more and more rails. The railroads connected the nation north and south. The canals connected the nation east and west.
The northeast became the nation’s business’s manufacturing center and the Midwest became the nation’s farming center. New inventions helped farmers such as:
1. Steel plow- invented by John Deere.
2. Reaper- was invented by Cyrus McCormick. The reaper cut and bundled wheat.
These inventions decreased the farmer’s work tremendously and work could be done faster, so that there was an increase in output and farms became lucrative.
The railroads connected the north and west- they brought machinery out west and farm goods to the east. The railroads served as the connecting force of the nation.
Much of this technological surge bypassed the south because the south had slaves who did the work. They didn’t need the machinery to upgrade, but the south still grew cash crops such as:
1. Cotton- number one crop.
2. Tobacco- secondary crop.
3. Rice- secondary crop.
Manifest destiny- the American people believe that it’s our right to control all the land out west from sea to shining sea.
There were smaller ideas blended with manifest destiny that got people to move out west:
1. The spreading of democracy.
2. Missionaries are always eager for new lands to either convert people, or start a new community that follows their religion.
3. Economic importance- the Panic of 1837 caused many people to lose money and they thought that by going out west, they would make money.
4. New markets- new markets could be found in Mexico, and could trade with Asia through California, which is on the Pacific Ocean.
As the settlers moved west, they met up with Indians and fought. The Americans made treaties with the Indians. One of the more famous treaties was the treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851- we promised the Indians the Great Plains. The treaties were broken over and over again.
Routes that the settlers took as they moved west:
1. Santa Fe Trail- left from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was basically a business route. It opened up the southwest and the Mexican and Spanish goods to America.
2. Oregon Trail- this trail was full of danger. It went from Independence, Missouri to Portland, Oregon. Many people traveled on this trail, and many died along the way.
One group that traveled on the Oregon Trail was the Mormons, led by Joseph Smith. The Mormons suffered religious persecution and Smith was killed. Their new leader was Brigham Young. Young suggested that if the Mormons move out west away from persecution, they’ll be successful. They went on the Oregon Trail, but never reached Oregon. They stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah and still remain there today. (The Mormons practice polygamy.)
About five thousand Americans settled in the Oregon territory. American and England vied over Oregon. America wanted it for manifest destiny and England wanted it for their business beaver hats and beaver furs. In 1844, one of the campaign ideas of President James K. Polk was “54’ 40° or fight”- we’ll get the Oregon territory of fight for it. Beaver went out of style, the English weren’t so interested in the territory anymore, so they compromised at the 49th parallel. Today, this is the northern border of the US and Canada.
Expanding into Texas-
Texas was a region in Mexico. Mexico was a huge country that had been colonized by the Spanish. In the early 1830s, it became independent. Mexico was looking to develop their northern territories, among them Texas. The Mexicans encouraged the English speaking Anglos to settle there. Anglos could move into Mexico if they promised to be Roman Catholics and follow the Mexican rule. Mexico gave away a lot of land for free.
The Anglos didn’t view themselves as Mexicans- they viewed themselves as an American colony in Mexico. One leader, Stephen Austin, was an American. He got a huge land grant from Mexico and he subdivided the land among many Americans, and they were living happily.
The Mexicans began getting nervous because the number of English people was becoming larger than the number of Mexican people in the northern territory of Mexico. The Americans were unhappy because:
1. They had to be Roman Catholics.
2. They were farmers and had slaves with them, but Mexico had outlawed slaves already.
In 1830, Mexico closed their borders and the Mexican troops began snooping around and enforcing laws, so the Americans got agitated. Austin went to speak to the Mexican leaders to ask for self government from Mexico for the Americans living there. The Mexican leader, Antonis Lopez de Santa Anna promptly threw Austin in jail.
After Austin was released, he told his people that they have to fight for themselves. There were a series of skirmishes which later came to be known as the Texas Revolution. One of the most important battles was the battle of Alamo. There were 187 Americans who used the Alamo, a mission building, as a fort. The Americans were shooting the Mexicans, and the Mexicans shot back. This went on for twelve days until the Mexicans scaled the walls of the Alamo and killed everyone inside. This became the American battle cry- remember the Alamo and how bad the Mexicans were.
Sam Houston was commander of one of the troops. He captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign away Texas’s freedom. The Americans in Texas celebrated their freedom. They were their own country- the Republic of Texas, and were recognized as a country by France and England. This took place in 1836.
The Texans thought that the US would annex them. In 1838, Houston, who was the president of Texas, asked to be annexed and America refused because the northerners didn’t want to allow another slave state into the union.
In 1844, Polk became president. Polk was both an expansionist and a slave holder and in 1845, Texas was admitted into the union. Mexico was fuming and Polk was really happy- he was nicknamed Polk the Purposeful. Polk agitated war against Mexico. He told General Zachary Taylor to start mobilizing troops near the Rio Grande River. When the Americans began to mobilize, Mexico felt that it was a violation of territorial rights. America had to decide whether or not to start a war- the north didn’t want more slave states, so they weren’t excited about war, but Polk wanted war.
In 1845, America sent scouts into California (part of Mexico) to check out the territory. In response, Mexico sent troops into Texas, and eleven Americans were killed. Polk told Congress that they must declare war, and they did.
The US army, led by General Stephen Kearny, marched troops into Santa Fe, New Mexico. Without a single casualty, they seized it and moved into California. California had already declared independence (called themselves the Bear Flag State), and asked to be joined.
The American troops continued on and had one victory after another. The Mexican troops tried to defend their land, but their army was outdated and very top heavy. America had just graduated their first class from West Point and was excited to try out new war strategies.
America took over Mexico City, and now they won. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the US a lot of territory, increasing the size of America by one- third. The US received:
1. California
2. New Mexico
3. Nevada
4. Utah
5. Arizona (part)
6. Wyoming (part)
7. Colorado (part)
In 1853, the US purchased some land under New Mexico from Mexico in the Gadsen Purchase. This land was purchased in order to lay railroad tracks through it. This purchase settled our southwest border until today.
In the election of 1848, Zachary Taylor, a general during the Mexican- American war, was elected as president. He was from the Whig party.
In 1848, American settlers discovered gold in California. Americans, known as the forty-niners, flooded California in search of gold. California became a boom town over night. It wasn’t the prospectors who became rich, rather the people who sold items to the forty-niners.
The California Gold Rush brought thousands of people into California, making it ready for statehood. This spurred on a debate in Congress of whether California should be a free state or a slave state.
At this point in history, the US experienced tremendous economic change- America industrialized. This is known as a market revolution. Now, people did business very differently. They bought and sold goods instead of producing on their own. This process depends on capitalism. Capitalism is the system in which private businesses or private individuals control production to make a profit. Capitalism depends on entrepreneurs to invest in the businesses.
Life for farmers changed too:
1. New machinery
2. Improved technology
3. Cash crops
Inventions and improvements that changed US lives:
1. Vulcanized rubber- treated rubber that resists cold and heat. This was invented by Charles Goodyear
2. Sewing machine- was invented by Elias Howe and perfected by I.M. Singer. The sewing machined changed life for woman; they could now make a dress 75% quicker.
3. Telegraph- was invented by Samuel Morse. The telegraph revolutionized communication between cities. Railroads used the telegraph to regulate the train schedule.
4. Steam boat- was invented by Robert Fulton. The steam boats were a new way to carry freight down rivers. They were very exciting but extremely dangerous.
The railroads became more popular than the steam boat because they were faster, but they were expensive. Eventually the price dropped and slowly, the country began building more and more rails. The railroads connected the nation north and south. The canals connected the nation east and west.
The northeast became the nation’s business’s manufacturing center and the Midwest became the nation’s farming center. New inventions helped farmers such as:
1. Steel plow- invented by John Deere.
2. Reaper- was invented by Cyrus McCormick. The reaper cut and bundled wheat.
These inventions decreased the farmer’s work tremendously and work could be done faster, so that there was an increase in output and farms became lucrative.
The railroads connected the north and west- they brought machinery out west and farm goods to the east. The railroads served as the connecting force of the nation.
Much of this technological surge bypassed the south because the south had slaves who did the work. They didn’t need the machinery to upgrade, but the south still grew cash crops such as:
1. Cotton- number one crop.
2. Tobacco- secondary crop.
3. Rice- secondary crop.
Manifest destiny- the American people believe that it’s our right to control all the land out west from sea to shining sea.
There were smaller ideas blended with manifest destiny that got people to move out west:
1. The spreading of democracy.
2. Missionaries are always eager for new lands to either convert people, or start a new community that follows their religion.
3. Economic importance- the Panic of 1837 caused many people to lose money and they thought that by going out west, they would make money.
4. New markets- new markets could be found in Mexico, and could trade with Asia through California, which is on the Pacific Ocean.
As the settlers moved west, they met up with Indians and fought. The Americans made treaties with the Indians. One of the more famous treaties was the treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851- we promised the Indians the Great Plains. The treaties were broken over and over again.
Routes that the settlers took as they moved west:
1. Santa Fe Trail- left from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was basically a business route. It opened up the southwest and the Mexican and Spanish goods to America.
2. Oregon Trail- this trail was full of danger. It went from Independence, Missouri to Portland, Oregon. Many people traveled on this trail, and many died along the way.
One group that traveled on the Oregon Trail was the Mormons, led by Joseph Smith. The Mormons suffered religious persecution and Smith was killed. Their new leader was Brigham Young. Young suggested that if the Mormons move out west away from persecution, they’ll be successful. They went on the Oregon Trail, but never reached Oregon. They stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah and still remain there today. (The Mormons practice polygamy.)
About five thousand Americans settled in the Oregon territory. American and England vied over Oregon. America wanted it for manifest destiny and England wanted it for their business beaver hats and beaver furs. In 1844, one of the campaign ideas of President James K. Polk was “54’ 40° or fight”- we’ll get the Oregon territory of fight for it. Beaver went out of style, the English weren’t so interested in the territory anymore, so they compromised at the 49th parallel. Today, this is the northern border of the US and Canada.
Expanding into Texas-
Texas was a region in Mexico. Mexico was a huge country that had been colonized by the Spanish. In the early 1830s, it became independent. Mexico was looking to develop their northern territories, among them Texas. The Mexicans encouraged the English speaking Anglos to settle there. Anglos could move into Mexico if they promised to be Roman Catholics and follow the Mexican rule. Mexico gave away a lot of land for free.
The Anglos didn’t view themselves as Mexicans- they viewed themselves as an American colony in Mexico. One leader, Stephen Austin, was an American. He got a huge land grant from Mexico and he subdivided the land among many Americans, and they were living happily.
The Mexicans began getting nervous because the number of English people was becoming larger than the number of Mexican people in the northern territory of Mexico. The Americans were unhappy because:
1. They had to be Roman Catholics.
2. They were farmers and had slaves with them, but Mexico had outlawed slaves already.
In 1830, Mexico closed their borders and the Mexican troops began snooping around and enforcing laws, so the Americans got agitated. Austin went to speak to the Mexican leaders to ask for self government from Mexico for the Americans living there. The Mexican leader, Antonis Lopez de Santa Anna promptly threw Austin in jail.
After Austin was released, he told his people that they have to fight for themselves. There were a series of skirmishes which later came to be known as the Texas Revolution. One of the most important battles was the battle of Alamo. There were 187 Americans who used the Alamo, a mission building, as a fort. The Americans were shooting the Mexicans, and the Mexicans shot back. This went on for twelve days until the Mexicans scaled the walls of the Alamo and killed everyone inside. This became the American battle cry- remember the Alamo and how bad the Mexicans were.
Sam Houston was commander of one of the troops. He captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign away Texas’s freedom. The Americans in Texas celebrated their freedom. They were their own country- the Republic of Texas, and were recognized as a country by France and England. This took place in 1836.
The Texans thought that the US would annex them. In 1838, Houston, who was the president of Texas, asked to be annexed and America refused because the northerners didn’t want to allow another slave state into the union.
In 1844, Polk became president. Polk was both an expansionist and a slave holder and in 1845, Texas was admitted into the union. Mexico was fuming and Polk was really happy- he was nicknamed Polk the Purposeful. Polk agitated war against Mexico. He told General Zachary Taylor to start mobilizing troops near the Rio Grande River. When the Americans began to mobilize, Mexico felt that it was a violation of territorial rights. America had to decide whether or not to start a war- the north didn’t want more slave states, so they weren’t excited about war, but Polk wanted war.
In 1845, America sent scouts into California (part of Mexico) to check out the territory. In response, Mexico sent troops into Texas, and eleven Americans were killed. Polk told Congress that they must declare war, and they did.
The US army, led by General Stephen Kearny, marched troops into Santa Fe, New Mexico. Without a single casualty, they seized it and moved into California. California had already declared independence (called themselves the Bear Flag State), and asked to be joined.
The American troops continued on and had one victory after another. The Mexican troops tried to defend their land, but their army was outdated and very top heavy. America had just graduated their first class from West Point and was excited to try out new war strategies.
America took over Mexico City, and now they won. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the US a lot of territory, increasing the size of America by one- third. The US received:
1. California
2. New Mexico
3. Nevada
4. Utah
5. Arizona (part)
6. Wyoming (part)
7. Colorado (part)
In 1853, the US purchased some land under New Mexico from Mexico in the Gadsen Purchase. This land was purchased in order to lay railroad tracks through it. This purchase settled our southwest border until today.
In the election of 1848, Zachary Taylor, a general during the Mexican- American war, was elected as president. He was from the Whig party.
In 1848, American settlers discovered gold in California. Americans, known as the forty-niners, flooded California in search of gold. California became a boom town over night. It wasn’t the prospectors who became rich, rather the people who sold items to the forty-niners.
The California Gold Rush brought thousands of people into California, making it ready for statehood. This spurred on a debate in Congress of whether California should be a free state or a slave state.
History: Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Reform in America
In the early 1800s, America experienced its second Great Awakening- religious revival. Religion again became popular in America and the modicum was through powerful preachers. The mindset of this era was that people thought they were doomed to purgatory and they had to creep their way out.
Transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement, which was the brain child of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was a writer and he believed that you can bring change through your thoughts and ideas. He discussed the ideas of truth that can be learned through nature. He said one should look inside himself and remove himself from the vicissitudes of society. Many transcendentalists moved out of the hub of life and into forests. One example of this was the writer Thoreau. He moved into a hut in the forest and didn’t come out for two years. He wrote “On Walden Pond” while he was alone.
Transcendentalism awoke the need for change. One of the areas of change was creating utopian societies, which were formed in order to find perfection. They wanted to build a community where everyone would live peacefully and in harmony, but none of them were successful.
Specific changes that took place:
1. Education- in early America, schools weren’t established and villages arranged education privately amongst themselves. In the 1830s was the start of state funded education. Slowly, more states began to take the responsibility for education, but It took a while for it to become an accepted thing. Horace Mann was the superintendent of schools in Massachusetts and he spent more money than ever before on education. He also made up curriculums and teacher training sessions- he made education real. Soon many states copied.
2. Prisoners and mental institutions- prisoners and people in mental institutions were horribly treated. Dorothy Dix went to prisons and institutions and saw the horrid treatment the inhabitants were receiving. She campaigned heavily for improvements in these institutions and was successful. (People still do this today.)
3. Slavery and abolition movement- abolitionists were people who wanted to abolish slavery. For years, African Americans that had been freed from slavery had campaigned for the abolition of slavery. Now, in the early 1800s, many preachers advocated for the end of slavery. Abolitionists:
a. William Lloyd Garrison. He was also the editor of an anti- slavery newspaper, “The Liberator”.
b. David Walker- was a freed slave who told African Americans to fight for their independence.
c. Fredrik Douglas- was a black slave who gained his freedom by escaping to the north. He befriended Garrison and worked for him for many years. Douglas was an exceptional speaker. Eventually, he began to publish his own newspaper called “The North Star”.
As the debate over slavery was growing, so was slavery itself. From 1810 to 1830, the slave population doubled in America. The whole institution of slavery now changed. It used to be mostly male workers who weren’t paid. By the 1830s, there were males, females and children who were American born working from dusk to dawn, some even longer. There were also slaves who worked in the cities, in the mills and mines.
In 1831, a Virginia slave named Nat Turner led a violent slave rebellion. He hit five southern plantations and killed all the white men in their beds. By the time he got to the fifth plantation, he was caught and executed.
The Nat Turner Rebellion sparked a new debate- some southerners were scared and felt maybe slavery should be abolished. In Virginia, they even tried to pass a law abolishing slavery, but it didn’t pass. The other side felt that the laws over the slaves had to be tightened so the slaves would be heavily controlled. There were some southerners who defended slavery, saying that it’s a wonderful thing- uncivilized people are now becoming Christian, and being taken care of for life.
In Congress the debates continued. The south was afraid that if the debates lasted long enough, slavery might be put to an end, so they passed the Gag Rule in 1836- debates can be limited. In 1845, the Gag Rule was lifted.
Woman and reforms:
Woman in America were treated as inferior beings and second class citizens. They didn’t have the right to own property or have custody over their children. Men had the right to beat their wives. Woman was bound by the cult of domesticity- the idea that woman belong at home.
There were woman who worked to improve life for woman:
1. Sisters Angelina and Sara Grimke- were also abolitionists. Along with other woman, they worked in the Temperance movement- to get men to stop drinking. Why? Because when men drink, the beat their wives. Many women joined. Factory owners also joined because drunk workers don’t perform well.
2. Emma Willard (New York) and Mary Lyon (Massachusetts) opened up girls high schools. Lyon’s school was called Holyoke. They faced much opposition.
3. Katherine Beecher was another woman who bought change. She researched woman’s health issues because woman used to be very sickly. She came up with the interesting finding that it was because:
a. They needed to get out and exercise more.
b. Their mode of dress was terrible, directly leading to illness.
4. Amanda Bloomer printed a pattern for a loose fitting pair of pants in the newspaper so woman should have more comfortable clothing. Bloomers gave woman the ability to move around more freely
5. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott wanted to bring woman rights, so they campaigned heavily. In 1848, they met at the Seneca Falls convention with other woman. Stanton and Mott spoke and explained the problems at hand. At the meeting, they read the Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. It stated that all men and woman are created equally and listed all their problems. This convention was considered to be the start of the woman’s rights movement.
6. Sojourner Truth- she was a black who fought for the abolition of slavery and woman’s rights.
The changing work place:
Now, America was moving into factories. Goods were no longer produced by artisans; they were now made in factories.
Many people were excited about this. In Lowell, Massachusetts, the mill girls (hired girls because they could be paid less) were excited to leave the field and go work in factories, bringing home money. The factories were social and interactive. Slowly, over time, work in the mills changed. The day was extended without an increase in pay. The factory owners demanded greater output- the workload was tripled, and the amount of workers was only doubled.
The mill girls went on strike. Most of the strikes were unsuccessful, but they didn’t give up. It was an extreme uphill battle. The strikes were unsuccessful mostly because of strikebreakers- people who broke the strikes. Strikebreakers were mostly immigrants, and many were Irish. Why were many Irish strikebreakers? Because the Irish were poor and were willing to work for less. There was a lot of prejudice against the Irish because:
1. They were the strikebreakers.
2. They were Roman Catholic.
Nevertheless, people still went on strike.
One of the first labor unions formed was the National Traitors Union in 1834. In the 1830s and 40s, the courts sided with the factory owners, besides for the one exception of Commonwealth vs. Hunt.
In the early 1800s, America experienced its second Great Awakening- religious revival. Religion again became popular in America and the modicum was through powerful preachers. The mindset of this era was that people thought they were doomed to purgatory and they had to creep their way out.
Transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement, which was the brain child of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was a writer and he believed that you can bring change through your thoughts and ideas. He discussed the ideas of truth that can be learned through nature. He said one should look inside himself and remove himself from the vicissitudes of society. Many transcendentalists moved out of the hub of life and into forests. One example of this was the writer Thoreau. He moved into a hut in the forest and didn’t come out for two years. He wrote “On Walden Pond” while he was alone.
Transcendentalism awoke the need for change. One of the areas of change was creating utopian societies, which were formed in order to find perfection. They wanted to build a community where everyone would live peacefully and in harmony, but none of them were successful.
Specific changes that took place:
1. Education- in early America, schools weren’t established and villages arranged education privately amongst themselves. In the 1830s was the start of state funded education. Slowly, more states began to take the responsibility for education, but It took a while for it to become an accepted thing. Horace Mann was the superintendent of schools in Massachusetts and he spent more money than ever before on education. He also made up curriculums and teacher training sessions- he made education real. Soon many states copied.
2. Prisoners and mental institutions- prisoners and people in mental institutions were horribly treated. Dorothy Dix went to prisons and institutions and saw the horrid treatment the inhabitants were receiving. She campaigned heavily for improvements in these institutions and was successful. (People still do this today.)
3. Slavery and abolition movement- abolitionists were people who wanted to abolish slavery. For years, African Americans that had been freed from slavery had campaigned for the abolition of slavery. Now, in the early 1800s, many preachers advocated for the end of slavery. Abolitionists:
a. William Lloyd Garrison. He was also the editor of an anti- slavery newspaper, “The Liberator”.
b. David Walker- was a freed slave who told African Americans to fight for their independence.
c. Fredrik Douglas- was a black slave who gained his freedom by escaping to the north. He befriended Garrison and worked for him for many years. Douglas was an exceptional speaker. Eventually, he began to publish his own newspaper called “The North Star”.
As the debate over slavery was growing, so was slavery itself. From 1810 to 1830, the slave population doubled in America. The whole institution of slavery now changed. It used to be mostly male workers who weren’t paid. By the 1830s, there were males, females and children who were American born working from dusk to dawn, some even longer. There were also slaves who worked in the cities, in the mills and mines.
In 1831, a Virginia slave named Nat Turner led a violent slave rebellion. He hit five southern plantations and killed all the white men in their beds. By the time he got to the fifth plantation, he was caught and executed.
The Nat Turner Rebellion sparked a new debate- some southerners were scared and felt maybe slavery should be abolished. In Virginia, they even tried to pass a law abolishing slavery, but it didn’t pass. The other side felt that the laws over the slaves had to be tightened so the slaves would be heavily controlled. There were some southerners who defended slavery, saying that it’s a wonderful thing- uncivilized people are now becoming Christian, and being taken care of for life.
In Congress the debates continued. The south was afraid that if the debates lasted long enough, slavery might be put to an end, so they passed the Gag Rule in 1836- debates can be limited. In 1845, the Gag Rule was lifted.
Woman and reforms:
Woman in America were treated as inferior beings and second class citizens. They didn’t have the right to own property or have custody over their children. Men had the right to beat their wives. Woman was bound by the cult of domesticity- the idea that woman belong at home.
There were woman who worked to improve life for woman:
1. Sisters Angelina and Sara Grimke- were also abolitionists. Along with other woman, they worked in the Temperance movement- to get men to stop drinking. Why? Because when men drink, the beat their wives. Many women joined. Factory owners also joined because drunk workers don’t perform well.
2. Emma Willard (New York) and Mary Lyon (Massachusetts) opened up girls high schools. Lyon’s school was called Holyoke. They faced much opposition.
3. Katherine Beecher was another woman who bought change. She researched woman’s health issues because woman used to be very sickly. She came up with the interesting finding that it was because:
a. They needed to get out and exercise more.
b. Their mode of dress was terrible, directly leading to illness.
4. Amanda Bloomer printed a pattern for a loose fitting pair of pants in the newspaper so woman should have more comfortable clothing. Bloomers gave woman the ability to move around more freely
5. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott wanted to bring woman rights, so they campaigned heavily. In 1848, they met at the Seneca Falls convention with other woman. Stanton and Mott spoke and explained the problems at hand. At the meeting, they read the Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. It stated that all men and woman are created equally and listed all their problems. This convention was considered to be the start of the woman’s rights movement.
6. Sojourner Truth- she was a black who fought for the abolition of slavery and woman’s rights.
The changing work place:
Now, America was moving into factories. Goods were no longer produced by artisans; they were now made in factories.
Many people were excited about this. In Lowell, Massachusetts, the mill girls (hired girls because they could be paid less) were excited to leave the field and go work in factories, bringing home money. The factories were social and interactive. Slowly, over time, work in the mills changed. The day was extended without an increase in pay. The factory owners demanded greater output- the workload was tripled, and the amount of workers was only doubled.
The mill girls went on strike. Most of the strikes were unsuccessful, but they didn’t give up. It was an extreme uphill battle. The strikes were unsuccessful mostly because of strikebreakers- people who broke the strikes. Strikebreakers were mostly immigrants, and many were Irish. Why were many Irish strikebreakers? Because the Irish were poor and were willing to work for less. There was a lot of prejudice against the Irish because:
1. They were the strikebreakers.
2. They were Roman Catholic.
Nevertheless, people still went on strike.
One of the first labor unions formed was the National Traitors Union in 1834. In the 1830s and 40s, the courts sided with the factory owners, besides for the one exception of Commonwealth vs. Hunt.
Monday, November 30, 2009
US History and Government - Test 4
George Washington was unanimously chosen as president. He was a general that inspired everyone and it was understood that he would become president.
This was just as the founding fathers had wanted it to be- there would be candidates running for the presidency. The one who received the most electoral votes would become the president and the one who received the second-to-most votes would become the vice president. In the case of a tie, the House of Representatives was to decide. This idea of a presidency in dispute going to the House of Representatives is still done to this day. Then the problem of political parties arose- by voting in this way, it was possible to have a president from one political party and the vice president from another. Because of this, the twelfth amendment was added to the constitution stating that one can vote for both the president and the vice president, but they now run as a team.
George Washington was the first president therefore he was the first to do and decide upon many things. Washington was a formal president and he felt the weight of the presidency upon him.
The first thing that was done was to set up a justice department. In 1789, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 in which they set up a system of federal courts. Today there are ninety two federal courts in the country.
The president also set up his cabinet. Today, the president’s cabinet has fifteen members. The original cabinet started out with only three:
1. Secretary of State- Thomas Jefferson.
2. Secretary of Treasury- Alexander Hamilton.
3. Secretary of War- Henry Knox.
Almost immediately, the differences of opinion of the men of the cabinet surfaces. Alexander Hamilton wanted to set up the country on a strong economic base. He had many different programs to do so, and among them was to:
1. Pay back all the debts accrued during the Revolutionary War. He thought it would make the state a more respectable nation and other countries would do business with us.
2. Pay up the debt within the nation. He though to make the rich people happy would be good for the nation too. Many opposed this:
a. Jefferson felt that since only a small percentile was wealthy, this wasn’t fair and the government should cater to the poor majority.
b. Many of the southern states were also against this because they paid up their debts and would now be taxed for the North’s debt. Hamilton told the southern states that if they went along with his plant to assume the state’s debt then the nation’s capital would be built in the south.
Hamilton wanted a federal bank because he felt that it would make the nation strong and keep the wealthy involved. How? Because a bank is a business and the rich invest in banks. Jefferson didn’t want a federal bank because he felt that banks are agents of the rich and hurt the poor because poor people borrow money and then have to pay back with interest. Jefferson also said that it doesn’t mention opening a federal bank anywhere in the constitution. Hamilton said that it falls under the elastic clause because it says that you can tax the people and the money has to be kept somewhere.
Now was the start of political views:
1. Hamilton with his men and their views= Federalists. They believed that:
a. The federal government should be strong.
b. The federal government should service the wealthy.
c. The constitution should be interpreted very loosely.
d. If an ally has to be chosen, it should be England.
2. Jefferson with his men and their views= Jeffersonian Republicans/Democratic Republican- Republicans. They believed:
a. In the rights of the state and the people.
b. The poor should be looked out for.
c. The constitution should be interpreted very narrowly.
d. If an ally has to be chosen, it should be the French.
George Washington was unhappy with the different political parties but after the first election with political parties the nation realized it was good because it allowed a change in political views without bloodshed.
As Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton imposed many taxes on the people. He also wanted to show the power of the federal government- that it’s strong and can and will make sure all their laws are carried out. In order to prove this, Hamilton placed and excise tax on whiskey. This angered the farmers in western Pennsylvania who made whiskey. They said that they won’t pay the tax and they made the Whiskey Rebellion. Hamilton sent a whole army out west and the entire rebellion was put down without one single death.
Foreign Affairs:
1. After Washington stepped into office, the French Revolution broke out. Washington said that the US will remain neutral. This idea of neutrality was very important to Washington. In his farewell address, Washington told America to steer clear of permanent alliances because they are a young and fledgling nation.
2. Northwest territory issues:
a. The Americans began settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. Many settled in the northwest territory of:
i. Ohio
ii. Illinois
iii. Michigan
iv. Wisconsin
v. Indiana
They met up with Indians and there were major fights. The issues were resolved in 1794 with the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
b. The British still remained in the Northwest Territory. John Jay was sent to Britain to work out this issue among some others. The Jay Treaty was formed and the British left the Northwest Territory, but not all the other issues were resolved.
After two terms in office, Washington retired. Federalist John Adams became the next president, and Republican Thomas Jefferson was the vice president.
This election highlighted the problem of sectionalism. Almost the entire south voted for Jefferson and almost all of the north voted for Adams.
John Adams faced a foreign affairs crisis- the French began attacking and abusing the US ships. Adams sent high ranking diplomats to talk to the French about this problem. The French humiliated the US by meeting their diplomats with low level men. The French men said that if the US diplomats want to meet with the French diplomats, they need to pay. This came to be known in America as the XYZ Affair. Some Federalists felt that war should be waged against France. Adams said not to go to war and that he would work it out. Over the next couple of years, he did work it out.
Adams was upset with the Republican Party because they were making fun of him. He felt that this was extremely wrong and would weaken the government. He felt that you must respect your president.
Adams decided to blame the immigrants within the Republican Party- he felt that maybe they were the ones doing it. Adams worked to push the Alien and Sedition Act through Congress. These acts made it more difficult for an immigrant to become a citizen and handed out harsh punishment to people that criticized the government.
These acts did get passed and the Republicans said that this is the first amendment abuse. Madison and Jefferson in their states passed the Kentucky- Virginia Resolution, which nullified the Alien and Sedition Acts. Then the issue rose of whether a state can nullify a federal law. Some felt they could and some felt otherwise. This issue remained a hot volatile until the Civil War.
In the election of the 1800s, Jefferson the Republican ran against Adams. This was a heavily disputed election, and came out to be very close. Jefferson won Adams by eight electoral votes. Jefferson’s vice president Aaron Burr got the same number of electoral votes as Jefferson, and now there was a tie. The issue went to the House of Representatives. Hamilton convinced the House of Representatives to vote for Jefferson, and Jefferson became president.
After this election, the twelfth amendment was added to the constitution. It said that the president and vice president would be voted for as a team.
Jefferson believed in less power to the federal government and more power to the people and state. Jefferson reduced the size of the army and reduced the power of the federal bank.
Jefferson was a much less formal president then Washington and Adams. He didn’t host formal balls and bow when talking to people.
The founding fathers were excited that there was a transition of ideas without bloodshed.
The next few presidents were Republicans. The Federalists lost their power in this area, but remained strong in the Judiciary branch. When Adams realized he lost the presidency, he still had a few months (November to March) and he worked to push through the Judiciary Act of 1801. This act increased the number of judges in the Supreme Court. Adams appointed John Marshall as the Chief Justice. The Federalist ruling was handed down for the next thirty years. Major debates arose over the judges that were appointed. Being that this law was passed in the eleventh hour, these judges were nicknamed the Midnight Appointees. Marbury never received the paper that he was appointed and Jefferson didn’t want to give him his paper of appointment. Marbury said that according to the Judiciary Act of 1789, Jefferson had to give it to him. This event went to the Supreme Court and became known as Marbury vs. Madison. John Marshall didn’t want to anger the president but wanted to strengthen the federal power, so he used judicial review. He looked into the law and the constitution and said that the Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional, therefore Marbury’s arguments are void and he doesn’t receive the job.
The Louisiana Territory was owned by France and was used as their breadbasket to feed their colonies in the Caribbean, particularly Haiti. Haiti was a lucrative French colony that grew sugar. In 1803, Toussaint Le Overture led a rebellion in Haiti and France lost its colony. France didn’t need the Louisiana Territory anymore so they offered it to America for fifteen million dollars. The American diplomats purchased it, and when they approached Jefferson about buying it, he said he doesn’t know if according to the constitution he could buy land, but since it was such a bargain, he signed the treaty. Jefferson signed because he wanted to spread American liberty. He now increased the power of the Federal government by doubling the size of the nation.
Jefferson sent Louis and Clarke to explore the new land. They returned with all the vegetation, soil samples, different wildlife and spoke glorious news of the chunk of land.
In 1804, Jefferson won the election; the nation was happy. Quite soon after he began his second term, Jefferson was met up with a big problem. The British were attacking American ships and impressing the sailors- taking them into their army and navy. Jefferson decided to place an embargo on the British, but this stifled American businesses so it was a major flop. Two years after it was placed, the embargo was lifted.
In 1808, James Madison became president, but the anger against the British didn’t vanish.
A group of young congressmen called the War Hawks (among them Henry Clay) advocated war against the British because:
1. They impressed our soldiers.
2. As the Americans were moving into Indian territory, they met up with Indians and there was a thought that the British were supplying them with weapons.
3. Border issue in Canada.
Madison took the nation into war in the War of 1812. The Americans didn’t win a single battle and the White House was burnt down. During this war, the Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key. Not everyone was in favor of war. The New England merchants felt war would wreck their business with England.
The one battle America did win was won after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. It was known as the Battle of New Orleans. The general of the battle was Andrew Jackson. They fought because news had not yet reached that the war was over. The Treaty of Ghent didn’t resolve any of the issues we went to war over, but America was very happy- we had fought a powerful nation and fought successfully. In 1816, all the issues were resolved. The War of 1812 was the start of the wonderful relationship we have with England. This war is also known as the War of Independence because now England recognized the US as a nation.
During the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution in England spread across Europe and to America. One of the ideas that helped spur on the revolution was Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts. This caused a change in how things were made- instead of making everything complete, things were made with standardized parts. Molds were formed so that many parts could be made at once, allowing for mass production.
In the mid 1800s, things really took off and manufacturing was no longer done in the home. England didn’t allow people in the manufacturing sector to leave the country so as not to give out ideas. Samuel Slater memorized the plans for the textile factory he worked in and went to work as a farmer. He left England as a farmer and went to America, and set up the first textile mill in New England. Slowly, towns turned into factory centers, for example the town of Lowell, Massachusetts hosted a textile mill, shaping the North into a manufacturing center.
The South was changed by Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which separated the seeds from the cotton puff. Before this, one worker could clean one pound of cotton per day. Now, one worker could clean fifty pounds of cotton per day. All of the sudden, cotton became such a lucrative crop; they could make so much money from it. Cotton became king in the South. The cotton gin revolutionized the way of agriculture in the South and huge plantations developed to produce cotton. To keep these plantations running, slaves were needed so slavery became entrenched in the South.
Henry Clay, a powerful congressman felt that the country had to be unified. He had a plan called the American System, which was divided into three parts:
1. Put a protective tariff on foreign goods- by taxing imports, people will be more likely to do business within the country. The South didn’t like this idea because they didn’t do so much manufacturing, so they didn’t benefit. In 1816, the tariff was passed even though there was opposition.
2. Build infrastructure to connect different parts of the country. At this point, the National Road was built. It went from Maryland to Illinois. Canals were also built, such as the Eerie canal.
3. Set up a Federal bank- Hamilton’s bank had run out. By controlling the banking system, he felt it would help control the monetary system across the nation and will help with business. This was also passed.
The American System was the start of our feelings of nationalism.
The Supreme Court was a federalist stronghold and passed down rulings that reflected their ideals. They ruled in favor of the National government. Cases:
1. McCulloch vs. Maryland- the court ruled that a state can’t pass a law that will go against a federal law. There was a federal bank in Maryland and the state of Maryland taxed the Federal bank almost enough to put it out of business. This was declared illegal.
2. Gibbons vs. Ogden- only the Federal government can regulate trade and the federal government is supreme over the states. Mr. Ogden worked for a shipping company that had the rights to ship between New York and New Jersey. He though he had exclusive rights over the waters. Gibbon was given the right by the federal government to ship on these waters.
3. Dartmouth College vs. Woodward- the court declared that the state of New Hampshire can’t revise a contract that was given to the college trustees long ago because a contract is a legal binding document and the constitution doesn’t allow the state to interfere with contracts. This gave businesses a confidence to open because it showed that contracts are valued.
John Quincy Adams was the Secretary of State. He established foreign policies on his beliefs on nationalism. He put the nation’s interests above the state’s interests in all dealings.
1. In 1819, he signed the Adams- Onis Treaty between the US and Spain. Spain gave Florida to the US. This increased our country’s size and we received it without a fight.
2. In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was issued by President Monroe. It told all the nations of the world not to get involved with the western hemisphere- it doesn’t belong to you, so leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. This included Latin America too. America didn’t let the European nations take colonies in Latin America because they didn’t want European powers in the south. They did this because they had the will to do it and were backed by England’s help.
The American pioneers were excited to move to the Louisiana Purchase. They could move west and settle the land. They had a very good, nationalistic feeling. Many immigrants and Americans moved out west. As they moved west, different territories became ready for statehood. In order to form a state, sixty thousand people had to be living in that territory. This led to problems in our nation.
At this point, there were twenty two states. Eleven believed in slavery and eleven didn’t. Missouri wanted to enter as a slave state. The Free states said no and there was an uproar in Congress. For about a year, Missouri was denied statehood. Henry Clay said it would work out because Maine, a free state, applied for statehood. Henry Clay said to divide the Louisiana Purchase at 36° 30’; north of this would be free and south of this would be slave. This came to be known as the Compromise of 1820 or the Missouri Compromise.
In 1824, John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, became president. He was not as successful or popular as his father because of Andrew Jackson. Jackson ran against Adams in the election of 1824, and Adams just barely squeaked into the presidency. It wasn’t a smooth win because neither candidate received a majority of the electoral votes. The decision went to the House of Representatives, and Clay convinced the House to vote for Adams. Clay got appointed as Secretary of State.
Jackson’s followers felt that the election was stolen from him. They formed their own party known as the Democratic Republican party. For the next four years, they attacked Adam’s policies.
During his years in office, Adams lowered the voting restrictions. In the election of 1828, three times as many people came to vote.
During the election of 1828, Jackson campaigned. He was nicknamed Old Hickory. Jackson won by a landslide. He invited everyone to his inaugural ball so he received the name King Mob.
Jackson changed the system of government to the spoils system- “to the victor belongs the spoils”. He removed many of the government officials and replaced them with his own friends. He had his own personal group of advisors called the Kitchen Cabinet- the joke was that they came through the kitchen door, which is the back door.
Three major events of Jackson:
1. Indian removal- in the southeast of America (Carolinas, Georgia…) there were about five Indian tribes that had Americanized. They set up schools, a system of government with a two house legislature, and one tribe had a written language made up by Sequoia. These five tribes were called the Five Civilized Tribes. They just weren’t good enough for the Americans- they wanted their land and didn’t want to live with them. Jackson agreed and said that they should move elsewhere.
In 1830, Jackson together with Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to push the Indians past the Mississippi river. For the next few years, the federal government made different treaties with different tribes, taking away their land and pushing them toward the Mississippi river.
The Cherokee tribe said they wouldn’t move. They had a missionary friend who fought for them and took their case to the Supreme Court. In the case of Worchester vs. Georgia, John Marshall ruled in favor of the Indians. He said that the Indian Removal Act is unconstitutional. Jackson didn’t listen to Marshall’s ruling and in 1838, he shooed the Cherokee out. The Indians went on an eight thousand mile trek from Georgia to Mississippi. It was filled with danger and came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
2. Tariff and State rights- in 1816, Henry Clay with the American System passed a tariff. Over the years, the tariff was raised. The south was continuously aggravated by it because they had little industry of their own and weren’t benefiting from the tax. At that time, John Calhoun, a southerner, was vice president. At first he agreed with the tariff but over time, he saw that it was hurting the southern states so he spoke out against it.
In 1838, the Tariff of Abomination was passed. Calhoun said that it’s a despicable tariff and the states don’t have to pay it based on the principle of nullification. He said that if the state forbids the state from nullifying the law, they can even secede.
This led to major debates in Congress. Daniel Webster represented the north and he spoke for many days in Congress against nullification. Webster said that we are a nation of people, and not of separate states. Robert Hane of South Carolina represented the south and he defended nullification.
In 1832, the tariff was raised again and South Carolina decided to nullify it. They were backed by John Calhoun. Andrew Jackson said that he’s going to pass the Force law, forcing them to pay the tariff and follow the law. Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser, made a compromise- he worked with Congress and over the next ten years, the tariff was lowered. This didn’t resolve the issue of state rights- South Carolina nullified the Force law.
3. National Banks- Jackson hated the national bank because he felt that it was an agent for the wealthy. He wanted to destroy the Bank of the United States (BUS), so he removed all the federal money and put it in small pet banks. So as not to crumble, the BUS asked many of their investors to pay up their loans. This caused many businesses to go bankrupt.
1n 1836, the BUS closed and Jackson won his battle against the banks.
Jackson’s actions angered his own party members and others, so they formed the Whigs. They nicknamed Jackson King Andrew.
Jackson served two terms, and in 1836, Martin Van Buren won the presidency, Van Buren was a powerful politician. He was the brain behind the new campaign style. Jackson backed Van Buren and he won. Van Buren inherited an economic mess; banks and businesses were collapsing. The pet banks became known as wild cat banks- they invested foolishly. The country entered into a state of depression known as the Panic of 1837. Van Buren was now nicknamed Van Ruin.
In the election of 1840, Van Buren lost to a Whig by the name of William Henry Harrison. Harrison gave his inaugural address in the rain without a coat, and shortly after, he came down with pneumonia, which resulted in his death three months into his presidency.
Harrison’s vice president, John Tyler became president. When the Whigs chose Tyler as vice president, they didn’t choose him for his policies but rather because they thought he would give a southern vote.
The Age of Jackson tremendously changed politics. People now became more involve.
This was just as the founding fathers had wanted it to be- there would be candidates running for the presidency. The one who received the most electoral votes would become the president and the one who received the second-to-most votes would become the vice president. In the case of a tie, the House of Representatives was to decide. This idea of a presidency in dispute going to the House of Representatives is still done to this day. Then the problem of political parties arose- by voting in this way, it was possible to have a president from one political party and the vice president from another. Because of this, the twelfth amendment was added to the constitution stating that one can vote for both the president and the vice president, but they now run as a team.
George Washington was the first president therefore he was the first to do and decide upon many things. Washington was a formal president and he felt the weight of the presidency upon him.
The first thing that was done was to set up a justice department. In 1789, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 in which they set up a system of federal courts. Today there are ninety two federal courts in the country.
The president also set up his cabinet. Today, the president’s cabinet has fifteen members. The original cabinet started out with only three:
1. Secretary of State- Thomas Jefferson.
2. Secretary of Treasury- Alexander Hamilton.
3. Secretary of War- Henry Knox.
Almost immediately, the differences of opinion of the men of the cabinet surfaces. Alexander Hamilton wanted to set up the country on a strong economic base. He had many different programs to do so, and among them was to:
1. Pay back all the debts accrued during the Revolutionary War. He thought it would make the state a more respectable nation and other countries would do business with us.
2. Pay up the debt within the nation. He though to make the rich people happy would be good for the nation too. Many opposed this:
a. Jefferson felt that since only a small percentile was wealthy, this wasn’t fair and the government should cater to the poor majority.
b. Many of the southern states were also against this because they paid up their debts and would now be taxed for the North’s debt. Hamilton told the southern states that if they went along with his plant to assume the state’s debt then the nation’s capital would be built in the south.
Hamilton wanted a federal bank because he felt that it would make the nation strong and keep the wealthy involved. How? Because a bank is a business and the rich invest in banks. Jefferson didn’t want a federal bank because he felt that banks are agents of the rich and hurt the poor because poor people borrow money and then have to pay back with interest. Jefferson also said that it doesn’t mention opening a federal bank anywhere in the constitution. Hamilton said that it falls under the elastic clause because it says that you can tax the people and the money has to be kept somewhere.
Now was the start of political views:
1. Hamilton with his men and their views= Federalists. They believed that:
a. The federal government should be strong.
b. The federal government should service the wealthy.
c. The constitution should be interpreted very loosely.
d. If an ally has to be chosen, it should be England.
2. Jefferson with his men and their views= Jeffersonian Republicans/Democratic Republican- Republicans. They believed:
a. In the rights of the state and the people.
b. The poor should be looked out for.
c. The constitution should be interpreted very narrowly.
d. If an ally has to be chosen, it should be the French.
George Washington was unhappy with the different political parties but after the first election with political parties the nation realized it was good because it allowed a change in political views without bloodshed.
As Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton imposed many taxes on the people. He also wanted to show the power of the federal government- that it’s strong and can and will make sure all their laws are carried out. In order to prove this, Hamilton placed and excise tax on whiskey. This angered the farmers in western Pennsylvania who made whiskey. They said that they won’t pay the tax and they made the Whiskey Rebellion. Hamilton sent a whole army out west and the entire rebellion was put down without one single death.
Foreign Affairs:
1. After Washington stepped into office, the French Revolution broke out. Washington said that the US will remain neutral. This idea of neutrality was very important to Washington. In his farewell address, Washington told America to steer clear of permanent alliances because they are a young and fledgling nation.
2. Northwest territory issues:
a. The Americans began settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. Many settled in the northwest territory of:
i. Ohio
ii. Illinois
iii. Michigan
iv. Wisconsin
v. Indiana
They met up with Indians and there were major fights. The issues were resolved in 1794 with the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
b. The British still remained in the Northwest Territory. John Jay was sent to Britain to work out this issue among some others. The Jay Treaty was formed and the British left the Northwest Territory, but not all the other issues were resolved.
After two terms in office, Washington retired. Federalist John Adams became the next president, and Republican Thomas Jefferson was the vice president.
This election highlighted the problem of sectionalism. Almost the entire south voted for Jefferson and almost all of the north voted for Adams.
John Adams faced a foreign affairs crisis- the French began attacking and abusing the US ships. Adams sent high ranking diplomats to talk to the French about this problem. The French humiliated the US by meeting their diplomats with low level men. The French men said that if the US diplomats want to meet with the French diplomats, they need to pay. This came to be known in America as the XYZ Affair. Some Federalists felt that war should be waged against France. Adams said not to go to war and that he would work it out. Over the next couple of years, he did work it out.
Adams was upset with the Republican Party because they were making fun of him. He felt that this was extremely wrong and would weaken the government. He felt that you must respect your president.
Adams decided to blame the immigrants within the Republican Party- he felt that maybe they were the ones doing it. Adams worked to push the Alien and Sedition Act through Congress. These acts made it more difficult for an immigrant to become a citizen and handed out harsh punishment to people that criticized the government.
These acts did get passed and the Republicans said that this is the first amendment abuse. Madison and Jefferson in their states passed the Kentucky- Virginia Resolution, which nullified the Alien and Sedition Acts. Then the issue rose of whether a state can nullify a federal law. Some felt they could and some felt otherwise. This issue remained a hot volatile until the Civil War.
In the election of the 1800s, Jefferson the Republican ran against Adams. This was a heavily disputed election, and came out to be very close. Jefferson won Adams by eight electoral votes. Jefferson’s vice president Aaron Burr got the same number of electoral votes as Jefferson, and now there was a tie. The issue went to the House of Representatives. Hamilton convinced the House of Representatives to vote for Jefferson, and Jefferson became president.
After this election, the twelfth amendment was added to the constitution. It said that the president and vice president would be voted for as a team.
Jefferson believed in less power to the federal government and more power to the people and state. Jefferson reduced the size of the army and reduced the power of the federal bank.
Jefferson was a much less formal president then Washington and Adams. He didn’t host formal balls and bow when talking to people.
The founding fathers were excited that there was a transition of ideas without bloodshed.
The next few presidents were Republicans. The Federalists lost their power in this area, but remained strong in the Judiciary branch. When Adams realized he lost the presidency, he still had a few months (November to March) and he worked to push through the Judiciary Act of 1801. This act increased the number of judges in the Supreme Court. Adams appointed John Marshall as the Chief Justice. The Federalist ruling was handed down for the next thirty years. Major debates arose over the judges that were appointed. Being that this law was passed in the eleventh hour, these judges were nicknamed the Midnight Appointees. Marbury never received the paper that he was appointed and Jefferson didn’t want to give him his paper of appointment. Marbury said that according to the Judiciary Act of 1789, Jefferson had to give it to him. This event went to the Supreme Court and became known as Marbury vs. Madison. John Marshall didn’t want to anger the president but wanted to strengthen the federal power, so he used judicial review. He looked into the law and the constitution and said that the Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional, therefore Marbury’s arguments are void and he doesn’t receive the job.
The Louisiana Territory was owned by France and was used as their breadbasket to feed their colonies in the Caribbean, particularly Haiti. Haiti was a lucrative French colony that grew sugar. In 1803, Toussaint Le Overture led a rebellion in Haiti and France lost its colony. France didn’t need the Louisiana Territory anymore so they offered it to America for fifteen million dollars. The American diplomats purchased it, and when they approached Jefferson about buying it, he said he doesn’t know if according to the constitution he could buy land, but since it was such a bargain, he signed the treaty. Jefferson signed because he wanted to spread American liberty. He now increased the power of the Federal government by doubling the size of the nation.
Jefferson sent Louis and Clarke to explore the new land. They returned with all the vegetation, soil samples, different wildlife and spoke glorious news of the chunk of land.
In 1804, Jefferson won the election; the nation was happy. Quite soon after he began his second term, Jefferson was met up with a big problem. The British were attacking American ships and impressing the sailors- taking them into their army and navy. Jefferson decided to place an embargo on the British, but this stifled American businesses so it was a major flop. Two years after it was placed, the embargo was lifted.
In 1808, James Madison became president, but the anger against the British didn’t vanish.
A group of young congressmen called the War Hawks (among them Henry Clay) advocated war against the British because:
1. They impressed our soldiers.
2. As the Americans were moving into Indian territory, they met up with Indians and there was a thought that the British were supplying them with weapons.
3. Border issue in Canada.
Madison took the nation into war in the War of 1812. The Americans didn’t win a single battle and the White House was burnt down. During this war, the Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key. Not everyone was in favor of war. The New England merchants felt war would wreck their business with England.
The one battle America did win was won after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. It was known as the Battle of New Orleans. The general of the battle was Andrew Jackson. They fought because news had not yet reached that the war was over. The Treaty of Ghent didn’t resolve any of the issues we went to war over, but America was very happy- we had fought a powerful nation and fought successfully. In 1816, all the issues were resolved. The War of 1812 was the start of the wonderful relationship we have with England. This war is also known as the War of Independence because now England recognized the US as a nation.
During the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution in England spread across Europe and to America. One of the ideas that helped spur on the revolution was Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts. This caused a change in how things were made- instead of making everything complete, things were made with standardized parts. Molds were formed so that many parts could be made at once, allowing for mass production.
In the mid 1800s, things really took off and manufacturing was no longer done in the home. England didn’t allow people in the manufacturing sector to leave the country so as not to give out ideas. Samuel Slater memorized the plans for the textile factory he worked in and went to work as a farmer. He left England as a farmer and went to America, and set up the first textile mill in New England. Slowly, towns turned into factory centers, for example the town of Lowell, Massachusetts hosted a textile mill, shaping the North into a manufacturing center.
The South was changed by Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which separated the seeds from the cotton puff. Before this, one worker could clean one pound of cotton per day. Now, one worker could clean fifty pounds of cotton per day. All of the sudden, cotton became such a lucrative crop; they could make so much money from it. Cotton became king in the South. The cotton gin revolutionized the way of agriculture in the South and huge plantations developed to produce cotton. To keep these plantations running, slaves were needed so slavery became entrenched in the South.
Henry Clay, a powerful congressman felt that the country had to be unified. He had a plan called the American System, which was divided into three parts:
1. Put a protective tariff on foreign goods- by taxing imports, people will be more likely to do business within the country. The South didn’t like this idea because they didn’t do so much manufacturing, so they didn’t benefit. In 1816, the tariff was passed even though there was opposition.
2. Build infrastructure to connect different parts of the country. At this point, the National Road was built. It went from Maryland to Illinois. Canals were also built, such as the Eerie canal.
3. Set up a Federal bank- Hamilton’s bank had run out. By controlling the banking system, he felt it would help control the monetary system across the nation and will help with business. This was also passed.
The American System was the start of our feelings of nationalism.
The Supreme Court was a federalist stronghold and passed down rulings that reflected their ideals. They ruled in favor of the National government. Cases:
1. McCulloch vs. Maryland- the court ruled that a state can’t pass a law that will go against a federal law. There was a federal bank in Maryland and the state of Maryland taxed the Federal bank almost enough to put it out of business. This was declared illegal.
2. Gibbons vs. Ogden- only the Federal government can regulate trade and the federal government is supreme over the states. Mr. Ogden worked for a shipping company that had the rights to ship between New York and New Jersey. He though he had exclusive rights over the waters. Gibbon was given the right by the federal government to ship on these waters.
3. Dartmouth College vs. Woodward- the court declared that the state of New Hampshire can’t revise a contract that was given to the college trustees long ago because a contract is a legal binding document and the constitution doesn’t allow the state to interfere with contracts. This gave businesses a confidence to open because it showed that contracts are valued.
John Quincy Adams was the Secretary of State. He established foreign policies on his beliefs on nationalism. He put the nation’s interests above the state’s interests in all dealings.
1. In 1819, he signed the Adams- Onis Treaty between the US and Spain. Spain gave Florida to the US. This increased our country’s size and we received it without a fight.
2. In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was issued by President Monroe. It told all the nations of the world not to get involved with the western hemisphere- it doesn’t belong to you, so leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. This included Latin America too. America didn’t let the European nations take colonies in Latin America because they didn’t want European powers in the south. They did this because they had the will to do it and were backed by England’s help.
The American pioneers were excited to move to the Louisiana Purchase. They could move west and settle the land. They had a very good, nationalistic feeling. Many immigrants and Americans moved out west. As they moved west, different territories became ready for statehood. In order to form a state, sixty thousand people had to be living in that territory. This led to problems in our nation.
At this point, there were twenty two states. Eleven believed in slavery and eleven didn’t. Missouri wanted to enter as a slave state. The Free states said no and there was an uproar in Congress. For about a year, Missouri was denied statehood. Henry Clay said it would work out because Maine, a free state, applied for statehood. Henry Clay said to divide the Louisiana Purchase at 36° 30’; north of this would be free and south of this would be slave. This came to be known as the Compromise of 1820 or the Missouri Compromise.
In 1824, John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, became president. He was not as successful or popular as his father because of Andrew Jackson. Jackson ran against Adams in the election of 1824, and Adams just barely squeaked into the presidency. It wasn’t a smooth win because neither candidate received a majority of the electoral votes. The decision went to the House of Representatives, and Clay convinced the House to vote for Adams. Clay got appointed as Secretary of State.
Jackson’s followers felt that the election was stolen from him. They formed their own party known as the Democratic Republican party. For the next four years, they attacked Adam’s policies.
During his years in office, Adams lowered the voting restrictions. In the election of 1828, three times as many people came to vote.
During the election of 1828, Jackson campaigned. He was nicknamed Old Hickory. Jackson won by a landslide. He invited everyone to his inaugural ball so he received the name King Mob.
Jackson changed the system of government to the spoils system- “to the victor belongs the spoils”. He removed many of the government officials and replaced them with his own friends. He had his own personal group of advisors called the Kitchen Cabinet- the joke was that they came through the kitchen door, which is the back door.
Three major events of Jackson:
1. Indian removal- in the southeast of America (Carolinas, Georgia…) there were about five Indian tribes that had Americanized. They set up schools, a system of government with a two house legislature, and one tribe had a written language made up by Sequoia. These five tribes were called the Five Civilized Tribes. They just weren’t good enough for the Americans- they wanted their land and didn’t want to live with them. Jackson agreed and said that they should move elsewhere.
In 1830, Jackson together with Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to push the Indians past the Mississippi river. For the next few years, the federal government made different treaties with different tribes, taking away their land and pushing them toward the Mississippi river.
The Cherokee tribe said they wouldn’t move. They had a missionary friend who fought for them and took their case to the Supreme Court. In the case of Worchester vs. Georgia, John Marshall ruled in favor of the Indians. He said that the Indian Removal Act is unconstitutional. Jackson didn’t listen to Marshall’s ruling and in 1838, he shooed the Cherokee out. The Indians went on an eight thousand mile trek from Georgia to Mississippi. It was filled with danger and came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
2. Tariff and State rights- in 1816, Henry Clay with the American System passed a tariff. Over the years, the tariff was raised. The south was continuously aggravated by it because they had little industry of their own and weren’t benefiting from the tax. At that time, John Calhoun, a southerner, was vice president. At first he agreed with the tariff but over time, he saw that it was hurting the southern states so he spoke out against it.
In 1838, the Tariff of Abomination was passed. Calhoun said that it’s a despicable tariff and the states don’t have to pay it based on the principle of nullification. He said that if the state forbids the state from nullifying the law, they can even secede.
This led to major debates in Congress. Daniel Webster represented the north and he spoke for many days in Congress against nullification. Webster said that we are a nation of people, and not of separate states. Robert Hane of South Carolina represented the south and he defended nullification.
In 1832, the tariff was raised again and South Carolina decided to nullify it. They were backed by John Calhoun. Andrew Jackson said that he’s going to pass the Force law, forcing them to pay the tariff and follow the law. Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser, made a compromise- he worked with Congress and over the next ten years, the tariff was lowered. This didn’t resolve the issue of state rights- South Carolina nullified the Force law.
3. National Banks- Jackson hated the national bank because he felt that it was an agent for the wealthy. He wanted to destroy the Bank of the United States (BUS), so he removed all the federal money and put it in small pet banks. So as not to crumble, the BUS asked many of their investors to pay up their loans. This caused many businesses to go bankrupt.
1n 1836, the BUS closed and Jackson won his battle against the banks.
Jackson’s actions angered his own party members and others, so they formed the Whigs. They nicknamed Jackson King Andrew.
Jackson served two terms, and in 1836, Martin Van Buren won the presidency, Van Buren was a powerful politician. He was the brain behind the new campaign style. Jackson backed Van Buren and he won. Van Buren inherited an economic mess; banks and businesses were collapsing. The pet banks became known as wild cat banks- they invested foolishly. The country entered into a state of depression known as the Panic of 1837. Van Buren was now nicknamed Van Ruin.
In the election of 1840, Van Buren lost to a Whig by the name of William Henry Harrison. Harrison gave his inaugural address in the rain without a coat, and shortly after, he came down with pneumonia, which resulted in his death three months into his presidency.
Harrison’s vice president, John Tyler became president. When the Whigs chose Tyler as vice president, they didn’t choose him for his policies but rather because they thought he would give a southern vote.
The Age of Jackson tremendously changed politics. People now became more involve.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
US History and Government 3
The Bill of Rights= first ten amendments. There are a total of twenty seven amendments and the first ten were added almost immediately because there were people where people who were afraid that the federal government had too much power. They wanted that people’s rights and the states should be protected.
1. Religious and political freedom- granted the people with:
a. Freedom of religion- the Supreme Court decides the extent of this freedom. If a religion calls for something extreme, such as hallucinated drugs or human sacrifices, freedom of religion might still deny this action.
b. Freedom of speech
c. Freedom of the press
d. The right to assemble
e. The right to petition
2. The right to bear arms- every American has the right to own licensed weapons.
3. Quartering troops- one will never be asked to host troops during peace time. During war though, a law may be passed to require the housing of troops.
4. Search and seizure- this protects the citizen from an unwarranted search of the home. In the event of a warranted search, they must tell the citizen what they are searching for. There have been times in history though, that these rights were ignored such as during the Red Scare. There are some exceptions to the requirement of a search warrant:
a. Moving car
b. Seeing something in plain view
c. Border
5. Rights of the accused:
a. Remain silent- one never has to incriminate himself.
b. Double jeopardy is prohibited- one can’t be accused of the same crime twice.
c. Due process- every person has a fair chance under the law.
d. Eminent Domain- private property won’t be taken from its owner without compensation.
6. The right to a fair, speedy and public trail by an impartial jury in a criminal case.
7. The right to a fair, speedy and public trail by an impartial jury in a civil case.
8. Places limits on fines and punishment- cruel and unusual punishment is illegal. Capital punishment is legal- most states don’t use this form of punishment but some do with a lethal injection.
9. Rights of the people- any rights which were discussed in the constitution shouldn’t be interpreted in any way to abridge the rights of other people. This amendment is nicknamed the elastic clause because it can encompass anything that wasn’t mentioned- just because something isn’t mentioned doesn’t mean that it’s denied. An example of this is the right to privacy- abortion. The Supreme Court passed Roe vs. Wade which says that one can end a pregnancy until the third month.
10. Powers of the state and the people- this is a general statement to the states promising that any power which has not exclusively been given over to the federal government and has not been denied to the state, it can go to the state.
1. Religious and political freedom- granted the people with:
a. Freedom of religion- the Supreme Court decides the extent of this freedom. If a religion calls for something extreme, such as hallucinated drugs or human sacrifices, freedom of religion might still deny this action.
b. Freedom of speech
c. Freedom of the press
d. The right to assemble
e. The right to petition
2. The right to bear arms- every American has the right to own licensed weapons.
3. Quartering troops- one will never be asked to host troops during peace time. During war though, a law may be passed to require the housing of troops.
4. Search and seizure- this protects the citizen from an unwarranted search of the home. In the event of a warranted search, they must tell the citizen what they are searching for. There have been times in history though, that these rights were ignored such as during the Red Scare. There are some exceptions to the requirement of a search warrant:
a. Moving car
b. Seeing something in plain view
c. Border
5. Rights of the accused:
a. Remain silent- one never has to incriminate himself.
b. Double jeopardy is prohibited- one can’t be accused of the same crime twice.
c. Due process- every person has a fair chance under the law.
d. Eminent Domain- private property won’t be taken from its owner without compensation.
6. The right to a fair, speedy and public trail by an impartial jury in a criminal case.
7. The right to a fair, speedy and public trail by an impartial jury in a civil case.
8. Places limits on fines and punishment- cruel and unusual punishment is illegal. Capital punishment is legal- most states don’t use this form of punishment but some do with a lethal injection.
9. Rights of the people- any rights which were discussed in the constitution shouldn’t be interpreted in any way to abridge the rights of other people. This amendment is nicknamed the elastic clause because it can encompass anything that wasn’t mentioned- just because something isn’t mentioned doesn’t mean that it’s denied. An example of this is the right to privacy- abortion. The Supreme Court passed Roe vs. Wade which says that one can end a pregnancy until the third month.
10. Powers of the state and the people- this is a general statement to the states promising that any power which has not exclusively been given over to the federal government and has not been denied to the state, it can go to the state.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
US History and Government 2
About fifty two delegates from all of the states aside for Rhode Island met to discuss what should be done about the Articles of Confederation. They were the elite of the nation, among them:
1. George Washington
2. Benjamin Franklin
3. James Madison
4. Alexander Hamilton
It was realized to be un-amendable so they decided to work on a new program. This meeting came to be known as the Constitutional Convention.
They worked on a system of government that would be successful. They came up with a bundle of compromises:
1. Great compromise- should people be represented by the state, where every state has an equal number of votes, or should people be represented by population? The Great compromise did both- they set up a government with a legislative branch, which allows for both types of representation. Congress has two branches:
a. House of Representatives- nation is represented by the population. Every ten years the nation is recounted and then the representatives are re-portioned.
b. Senate- nation is represented by the state. Every state sends two representatives.
2. Three-Fifths compromise- issue of whether the slaves should be counted in the population or not. The compromise was that three-fifths of the slaves should be counted.
3. Commerce compromise- the North wanted the government to protect their businesses. They wanted the government to tax imports so foreign goods would be more expensive. The South was worried that the minute the government got involved in business they would also get involved in the slave trade so a compromise was agreed upon- imports would be taxed. Exports wouldn’t be taxed and slavery wouldn’t be touched for twenty years.
4. Electoral compromise- how should the president be elected? The mass can’t pick so the Electoral College was put into place. Every state will vote for electors and these electors will vote for the president.
5. Separation of powers- divided the powers of the government into three branches:
a. Legislative branch= congress- makes the laws. Compromised of the House of Representatives and Senate.
b. Executive branch- carries out the laws. Compromised of the president and his cabinet members.
c. Judicial branch- interprets the laws of the Supreme Court.
Each branch checks on the others so that no branch is more powerful than the other.
Making of the laws- the president can suggest a law to the legislative branch. They can either veto or pass the law. The president also has the power to veto a law. Congress can override the president’s veto. To pass a law, Congress needs a simple majority. To override a presidential veto, Congress needs a two-thirds vote. The judicial branch can declare a law unconstitutional.
No one is above the law; everyone can be removed from office. The president can be impeached by the House of Representatives and the Senate acts as the jury.
6. How should power be divided between the state and the federal government? There is a system of federalism- certain powers are only delegated to certain governments:
a. Federal government:
1. The power to coin money
2. Declare wars
3. Make treaties
4. Regulate trade interstate
b. State government:
1. State elections
2. Licensing
3. Education
4. Intrastate relagation
c. Concurrent powers:
1. Taxes
2. Setting up a court system
3. Borrowing money
4. Making roads
The framers decided that only nine of the thirteen states needed to vote in the affirmative for the constitution to be radified.
There were many disagreements in the states among the:
1. Anti- Federalists- they felt the constitution gave too many rights to the government and the people’s wishes wouldn’t be honored. They said they wouldn’t sign unless a Bill of Rights is passed.
2. Federalists- they said it was good and protective enough of the people’s rights.
The Federalists Papers were the articles they wrote pro the constitution. The authors were:
1. John Jay
2. James Madison
3. Alexander Hamilton
Nine out of thirteen states did radify the constitution and it became the law of the land. New York and Virginia didn’t sign, so they worked out a Bill of Rights and now everybody signed.
The constitution begins with the preamble- people have the right to govern. This is a government of the people not the state and people are governing. It also states why a new government is being formed.
There are seven articles in the constitution:
1. Legislative branch- the law making body= Congress. The founding fathers said that this is the central branch of the government because it is the closest to the people.
Congress has two houses:
a. The House of Representatives- lower. It is more directly connected with the people. It represents the people by population. A representative serves for two years and can get reelected for as many terms as he’s able to. In order to be a representative, one must be at least twenty-five years of age and have been a US citizen for seven years.
b. The Senate- also known as the upper house. It’s somewhat removed from the people to keep it stable. Senators were originally chosen by the state government, but in 1913 the seventeenth amendment changed that and the people now elect their senators. Senators serve a six year term to keep it stable. Only one-third of Senate is elected at a time. To be a senator, one must be at least thirty years of age and a US citizen for nine years.
The House can issue articles of impeachment. When the house impeaches, the Senate tries the case.
A bill is a law before it becomes a law. Section seven of article one discusses how a bill becomes a law-a bill is introduced in either the House or Senate. It has to be approved by a majority of the House and Senate, and then it goes to the president who either signs it as law or vetoes it. If the president vetoes it, Congress has the power to override the presidential veto with a two- thirds vote. The president has something known as the pocket veto- when a bill is presented to the president, he has ten days to decide what he wants to do. If a bill is presented late and the president doesn’t have the ten days, he is able stick the bill into his “pocket” and this veto can’t be overridden.
Congressional tactics:
a. Special interest groups/lobbying- there are people that stand in the lobby of the White House and talk to the Congressman
b. Filibustering- to talk and talk so Congress doesn’t pass a law. This only happens in the Senate.
c. Log rolling- Congressman vote for each other’s bills using the tactic of “if you vote for me I’ll vote for you”.
Congressmen are salaried workers. They also have many privileges:
a. Fully staffed offices
b. Franking privileges- free postage
c. Exempt from certain laws.
d. Tax the people
e. Borrow money
f. Regulate trade with foreign nations
g. Declare war
h. Set up an army
i. Coin money
In addition, Congress has the power of the elastic clause, also known as the necessary and proper clause. This gives Congress the power to stretch the constitution in order to carry out the above duties. Over the years there have been presidents who have stretched the elastic clause very far, giving the government more power.
Powers that are denied to Congress:
a. They can’t take away a trial by jury
b. They can’t take away the writ of Habeas Corpus
c. They can’t pass ex post facto laws, making something illegal that when you did it was legal.
Powers that are denied to the state:
a. Regulate trade between states
b. Make treaties
c. Declare war
2. Executive branch- consists of the president, vice president and the cabinet. To be president, one must be at least thirty-five years of age and be a naturally born American.
Electing the president: The founding fathers were concerned that the people weren’t educated enough to choose their own president so they set up the Electoral College. This way, the people choose their electors who then choose the president. The amount of electors every state receives is equal to the number of representatives in the House plus two. The Electoral College did not work out the way the founding fathers expected and it definitely has many problems with it. Now, it is just a number of votes for the president to win a majority of in order for him to become president. In regard to the electoral votes, it’s winner takes all. It is possible to become president by winning the majority in the eleven biggest states. The Electoral College benefits the smaller states because they get more of a representation. A problem that occurred four times was that someone won the popular vote, but not the electoral vote.
Order of succession- if the president dies in office:
a. Vice president
b. Speaker of the house- the most important member of the House and Congress
The president lives in the white house as a salary worker. His salary doesn’t get changed while he’s in office.
The president’s duties:
a. Chief executive:
1. Enforces the laws and makes sure it’s carried out
2. In charge of a huge bureaucracy
3. He can pass a law without Congress by executive order if he sees it is desperately needed.
4. Appoints judges and ambassadors- the Senate has to agree though.
b. Chief diplomat:
1. Meets with ambassadors
2. Makes and signs treaties- needs two- thirds of the Senate’s approval.
c. Commander in chief of the US armed forces- works together with Congress to make wars.
d. Chief legislature- he can veto and suggest laws.
e. Head of state (ex. Put on wreath or light menorah)
f. Judicial powers- grants pardons.
g. Head of his political party- he sets the tone for his party. Since there were no political parties when the constitution was written, so this is known as the unwritten constitution.
The constitution said that a president could serve forever but no one ever did. They all served for two terms until FDR. Then, in 1951 the twenty- second amendment was passed stating that a president could only serve two terms in office.
The vice president serves as the tie breaker in Senate. Senate is always an even number so if there is a tie, the vice president is there to resolve that problem.
3. Judiciary branch- there are nine members. They are appointed for life (by the president with the Senates’ approval) because the founding fathers wanted them to be above politics.
1. George Washington
2. Benjamin Franklin
3. James Madison
4. Alexander Hamilton
It was realized to be un-amendable so they decided to work on a new program. This meeting came to be known as the Constitutional Convention.
They worked on a system of government that would be successful. They came up with a bundle of compromises:
1. Great compromise- should people be represented by the state, where every state has an equal number of votes, or should people be represented by population? The Great compromise did both- they set up a government with a legislative branch, which allows for both types of representation. Congress has two branches:
a. House of Representatives- nation is represented by the population. Every ten years the nation is recounted and then the representatives are re-portioned.
b. Senate- nation is represented by the state. Every state sends two representatives.
2. Three-Fifths compromise- issue of whether the slaves should be counted in the population or not. The compromise was that three-fifths of the slaves should be counted.
3. Commerce compromise- the North wanted the government to protect their businesses. They wanted the government to tax imports so foreign goods would be more expensive. The South was worried that the minute the government got involved in business they would also get involved in the slave trade so a compromise was agreed upon- imports would be taxed. Exports wouldn’t be taxed and slavery wouldn’t be touched for twenty years.
4. Electoral compromise- how should the president be elected? The mass can’t pick so the Electoral College was put into place. Every state will vote for electors and these electors will vote for the president.
5. Separation of powers- divided the powers of the government into three branches:
a. Legislative branch= congress- makes the laws. Compromised of the House of Representatives and Senate.
b. Executive branch- carries out the laws. Compromised of the president and his cabinet members.
c. Judicial branch- interprets the laws of the Supreme Court.
Each branch checks on the others so that no branch is more powerful than the other.
Making of the laws- the president can suggest a law to the legislative branch. They can either veto or pass the law. The president also has the power to veto a law. Congress can override the president’s veto. To pass a law, Congress needs a simple majority. To override a presidential veto, Congress needs a two-thirds vote. The judicial branch can declare a law unconstitutional.
No one is above the law; everyone can be removed from office. The president can be impeached by the House of Representatives and the Senate acts as the jury.
6. How should power be divided between the state and the federal government? There is a system of federalism- certain powers are only delegated to certain governments:
a. Federal government:
1. The power to coin money
2. Declare wars
3. Make treaties
4. Regulate trade interstate
b. State government:
1. State elections
2. Licensing
3. Education
4. Intrastate relagation
c. Concurrent powers:
1. Taxes
2. Setting up a court system
3. Borrowing money
4. Making roads
The framers decided that only nine of the thirteen states needed to vote in the affirmative for the constitution to be radified.
There were many disagreements in the states among the:
1. Anti- Federalists- they felt the constitution gave too many rights to the government and the people’s wishes wouldn’t be honored. They said they wouldn’t sign unless a Bill of Rights is passed.
2. Federalists- they said it was good and protective enough of the people’s rights.
The Federalists Papers were the articles they wrote pro the constitution. The authors were:
1. John Jay
2. James Madison
3. Alexander Hamilton
Nine out of thirteen states did radify the constitution and it became the law of the land. New York and Virginia didn’t sign, so they worked out a Bill of Rights and now everybody signed.
The constitution begins with the preamble- people have the right to govern. This is a government of the people not the state and people are governing. It also states why a new government is being formed.
There are seven articles in the constitution:
1. Legislative branch- the law making body= Congress. The founding fathers said that this is the central branch of the government because it is the closest to the people.
Congress has two houses:
a. The House of Representatives- lower. It is more directly connected with the people. It represents the people by population. A representative serves for two years and can get reelected for as many terms as he’s able to. In order to be a representative, one must be at least twenty-five years of age and have been a US citizen for seven years.
b. The Senate- also known as the upper house. It’s somewhat removed from the people to keep it stable. Senators were originally chosen by the state government, but in 1913 the seventeenth amendment changed that and the people now elect their senators. Senators serve a six year term to keep it stable. Only one-third of Senate is elected at a time. To be a senator, one must be at least thirty years of age and a US citizen for nine years.
The House can issue articles of impeachment. When the house impeaches, the Senate tries the case.
A bill is a law before it becomes a law. Section seven of article one discusses how a bill becomes a law-a bill is introduced in either the House or Senate. It has to be approved by a majority of the House and Senate, and then it goes to the president who either signs it as law or vetoes it. If the president vetoes it, Congress has the power to override the presidential veto with a two- thirds vote. The president has something known as the pocket veto- when a bill is presented to the president, he has ten days to decide what he wants to do. If a bill is presented late and the president doesn’t have the ten days, he is able stick the bill into his “pocket” and this veto can’t be overridden.
Congressional tactics:
a. Special interest groups/lobbying- there are people that stand in the lobby of the White House and talk to the Congressman
b. Filibustering- to talk and talk so Congress doesn’t pass a law. This only happens in the Senate.
c. Log rolling- Congressman vote for each other’s bills using the tactic of “if you vote for me I’ll vote for you”.
Congressmen are salaried workers. They also have many privileges:
a. Fully staffed offices
b. Franking privileges- free postage
c. Exempt from certain laws.
d. Tax the people
e. Borrow money
f. Regulate trade with foreign nations
g. Declare war
h. Set up an army
i. Coin money
In addition, Congress has the power of the elastic clause, also known as the necessary and proper clause. This gives Congress the power to stretch the constitution in order to carry out the above duties. Over the years there have been presidents who have stretched the elastic clause very far, giving the government more power.
Powers that are denied to Congress:
a. They can’t take away a trial by jury
b. They can’t take away the writ of Habeas Corpus
c. They can’t pass ex post facto laws, making something illegal that when you did it was legal.
Powers that are denied to the state:
a. Regulate trade between states
b. Make treaties
c. Declare war
2. Executive branch- consists of the president, vice president and the cabinet. To be president, one must be at least thirty-five years of age and be a naturally born American.
Electing the president: The founding fathers were concerned that the people weren’t educated enough to choose their own president so they set up the Electoral College. This way, the people choose their electors who then choose the president. The amount of electors every state receives is equal to the number of representatives in the House plus two. The Electoral College did not work out the way the founding fathers expected and it definitely has many problems with it. Now, it is just a number of votes for the president to win a majority of in order for him to become president. In regard to the electoral votes, it’s winner takes all. It is possible to become president by winning the majority in the eleven biggest states. The Electoral College benefits the smaller states because they get more of a representation. A problem that occurred four times was that someone won the popular vote, but not the electoral vote.
Order of succession- if the president dies in office:
a. Vice president
b. Speaker of the house- the most important member of the House and Congress
The president lives in the white house as a salary worker. His salary doesn’t get changed while he’s in office.
The president’s duties:
a. Chief executive:
1. Enforces the laws and makes sure it’s carried out
2. In charge of a huge bureaucracy
3. He can pass a law without Congress by executive order if he sees it is desperately needed.
4. Appoints judges and ambassadors- the Senate has to agree though.
b. Chief diplomat:
1. Meets with ambassadors
2. Makes and signs treaties- needs two- thirds of the Senate’s approval.
c. Commander in chief of the US armed forces- works together with Congress to make wars.
d. Chief legislature- he can veto and suggest laws.
e. Head of state (ex. Put on wreath or light menorah)
f. Judicial powers- grants pardons.
g. Head of his political party- he sets the tone for his party. Since there were no political parties when the constitution was written, so this is known as the unwritten constitution.
The constitution said that a president could serve forever but no one ever did. They all served for two terms until FDR. Then, in 1951 the twenty- second amendment was passed stating that a president could only serve two terms in office.
The vice president serves as the tie breaker in Senate. Senate is always an even number so if there is a tie, the vice president is there to resolve that problem.
3. Judiciary branch- there are nine members. They are appointed for life (by the president with the Senates’ approval) because the founding fathers wanted them to be above politics.
US History and Government
This continent was settled by Indians before the Europeans arrived. By the 1400s, there were about 15 million Indians in the US. The Indians lived a lifestyle defined by nature and geography and their religion was a nature-based religion. The Indians lived in family based tribes, which developed as families grew. Some Indians formed alliances with other tribes to keep strong. The Iroquois formed the Confederacy, which kept the Europeans at bay for a period of time.
As various Europeans arrived, their relationship with the Indians varied among:
1. Trade
2. Alliance- the Photon Confederacy helped form the state of Virginia by giving the Europeans food and teaching them which crops grew well. Alliances serviced both sides over the years.
3. Warfare- the Europeans had many wars and made many attempts to push the Indians out until the late 1800s when the Europeans got rid of the Indians for good.
The Europeans and the Indians had cultural differences- the Indians understood that land is not to be bought and sold. Land is here for the common and is to be shared.
The first European settlement was formed in 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. However it was not one of the thirteen original colonies so it doesn’t go down as the first settlement. The European settlement of Jamestown, Virginia was settled in 1607. By 1732 Georgia, the last of the thirteen colonies, was settled.
Many indentured servants, people who sold themselves as slaves in order to pay for their passage overseas, came over from Europe to America. A majority of the people who came over were British, therefore we speak English in America. They also brought over their culture, therefore our cultures are linked.
Why did people come over?
1. Economic opportunities- to make money. This also benefited the kings. For example, Georgia was formed by debtors. King George opened up the doors of the debtors prisons and told them to go. As thanks, they named their colony after him.
2. Religious reasons- people came to practice religion freely. The pilgrims, for example, came to escape religious persecution.
3. Political reasons- people came to escape political persecution.
Geography shaped their experience in the colonies so much so that the thirteen colonies were divided into three groups:
1. New England colonies- these were the north-most colonies such as Massachusetts and New Hampshire. These colonies experienced cold and hardships in farming and planting cash crops. Many went into ship building and trade. The ports of Salem and Boston, Massachusetts were the most famed ports in the colonies.
2. Middle colonies- such as New York and Pennsylvania. These colonies had very diverse populations. They also had the ability to farm because of the fertile soil. They grew corn and wheat, which they exported. Trade helped build the New York and Pennsylvanian cities.
3. Southern colonies- had a warmer climate where agriculture flourished. The rich soil grew tobacco, rice and indigo, which were grown for export. Many of the colonists were very rich.
At first the colonists used indentured servants to work the land for them. However after so many years, there were no indentured servants yet. To replace them, the colonists attempted to use Indians. The Indians didn’t prove to be as hearty as the Africans, so the idea of enslaving Africans began and the slave trade grew steadily.
Some trades were two way trades. The slave trade though was a triangular trade. The New England merchants traded rum for slaves (who resisted) and then the slaves were sold to people who needed them in the West Indies for molasses or sugar.
The idea of bringing Africans over to work didn’t originate in the colonies. It evolved over time. The horrific voyage from Africa over the Atlantic Ocean was known as the Middle Passage.
African culture leaked into the US such as:
1. Music
2. Food
3. Literature
4. Folk Art
5. Architecture
Historical influences on the American government:
1. Athens, Greece- supported the first democracy. It was a true democracy where everyone got the right to vote.
2. Rome- was a republic. Rome had a representative democracy, which is what we have today. People elected people to vote for them.
3. England became a limited democracy through-
a. Magna Carta- allowed trial by jury for the nobles. This was massive because it limited the king’s power.
b. 1628, Petition of Rights- King Charles was forced to agree to the writ of habeas corpus- people can’t be thrown into jail without being told why.
c. 1689, Bill of Rights- by the Glorious Revolution. This was the start of parliamentary government in England.
4. Enlightenment thinkers-
a. John Locke (England) - came up with the idea that if there are systems to nature, man has a part in it. He said man has natural rights of life, liberty and property. Locke also had the Social Contract theory- the government and the people make a contract and if either side breaks the contract, there are repercussions.
b. Baron de Montesquieu (France) - felt parliamentary was successful because of the division of power. He said division of power is a great thing.
c. Rousseau- said people rule by the consent of the governed.
d. Voltaire- he defended the right to speak and all other intolerances.
5. The colonists own experiences here- most of the colonies got a charter and started with some measure of self government. In 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses agreed to govern themselves and govern fairly- they copied England. In 1620, before the Pilgrims even got off the Mayflower, they signed the Mayflower Compact. All the colonies knew that whatever they set up would be a limited government which would protect the rights of the people to make charters, have property… An early example of freedom of speech was the German newspaper publisher, John Peter Zenger. He wrote against the governor of New York, and when tried, he was found not guilty. This helped establish the idea of freedom of the press.
Causes of the American Revolution:
The British didn’t hover over their colonies; they displayed a policy of salutary neglect- ignored the colonies somewhat, but in a healthy manner. Because of this policy, the colonies had many years of self government under their belts.
The English and the French were age old rivals, and their wars spilled into the colonies. In 1763, the Seven Years war, also known as the French and Indian war broke out, and ended with the British victorious over the French. The Treaty of Paris was made between the English and French- it gave England all the land up until the Mississippi river.
The colonists began to move out west. The English didn’t want this so they issued the Proclamation of 1763, which stated that no one could move past the old boundary of the Appalachian Mountains. This bothered the colonists.
As a result of the war, the English treasury was depleted so they began to tax the colonists because they felt the colonists should be paying for their own protection:
1. Sugar Act- on imports
2. Stamp Act- on written documents
This annoyed the colonists deeply. They felt there should be “no taxation without representation”. These taxes were repealed, and then came another tax:
3. Townshend Act
The colonists had developed independent thoughts about government. About ninety percent of the colonists were land owning, white males and would’ve been able to vote in England.
The English went ahead and placed another tax on the colonists: the Tea act- this gave the British merchants in England much of the control over the tea industry. They made it cheap, but the colonists were unable to buy other teas. The colonial response to this act was the Boston Tea Party. As a result to the Boston Tea Party, the British placed the Intolerable act on the colonists:
1. Shut down the Boston Harbor
2. Didn’t allow for town hall meetings
3. Shut down the legislature in Massachusetts
Delegates from each of the colonies met in Philadelphia to decide what to do. This became known as the First Continental Congress. They sent a declaration to King George stating their unhappiness. The delegates decided to meet again if the situation wouldn’t improve.
As time passed, the colonists began to stash weapons just in case they would be needed. News leaked out through Paul Revere that the British were headed for Concord, Massachusetts to raid the arsenals. Some colonists met them at Lexington, Massachusetts (before they reached Concord). A shot was fired and about twenty four colonists were killed. The battle lasted for about fifteen minuets, and then the British moved onto Concord. There were no weapons there, but the British were met by a large group of colonists. There were some British casualties. These battles at Concord and Lexington go down as the first battles of the American Revolution.
In May of 1775, the Second Continental Congress met and decided to set up an army with George Washington as general. The Second Continental Congress was the official government body until after the war.
In June of 1775 was the Battle of Bunkerhill, with 311 colonial and 1000 British casualties.
In July of 1775, they sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George, asking to work things out. The king said since you are rebellious colonies, you’ll be treated as such and he blockaded their waters.
The thoughts towards independence began to grow:
1. Patrick Henry
2. The Sons of Liberty- under Samuel Adams
3. Thomas Paine- wrote Common Sense. This had the greatest impacts on thoughts of independence.
The delegates tried to draft a Declaration of Independence. Its foremost writer was Thomas Jefferson and it was signed by the colonial delegates in 1776.
The Declaration of Independence had three parts:
1. Preamble- it stated our theories of government:
a. Government by consent of the governed
b. Belief that all men are created equally
2. List of all their grievances against the king
3. The declaration of independence
Soon after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the colonists lost more battles.
In late 1777, was the turning point of the war at the Battle of Saratoga. The colonists won a decisive victory and some European nations such as France and Prussia decided to help the colonists.
Then came the difficult winter at Valley Forge. It was very cold and hard for the troops, but General Washington stayed with his soldiers to give support. The army had also excelled because of the help they received.
In October of 1781, was the final battle in Yorktown, Virginia. It was here that the British surrendered and the war was over.
They went to Paris to sign the treaty in 1783. The United States of America received all the land up until the Mississippi river.
How did the colonies win?
1. Foreign help
2. They were fighting a desperate cause and they had inspirational leaders.
During the war, the British didn’t behave in a proper manner and many loyalists came over to the patriot side. Many women also went out to the battlefield where they mended, helped and even fought.
The United States of America decided to set up a confederation- a bunch of loosely linked states. The National government is going to be even looser than the state government.
A list of laws known as the Articles of Confederation was written up:
1. No executive branch
2. No main leader
3. Every state got one vote so they were all equal in power.
4. If anyone wanted something changed in the Articles of the Confederation, all thirteen states had to agree.
5. The federal government can’t tax the people. If the federal government wanted money, they had to borrow from the state.
6. Every state could coin their own money.
7. The federal government can’t regulate trade between the colonies.
8. No federal justice- no court system.
The Articles of Confederation did some positive things too:
1. Worked out the Treaty of Paris
2. Passed the Land Ordinance Act of 1785 and again in 1787- set up a system of how new states could be admitted into the union.
The states weren’t governing themselves so successfully; there were issues with in every state. The event that made everyone realize this wasn’t going to work was Shays’s Rebellion- Daniel Shays was a farmer who fought during the war. When he came home he and other farmers had accrued debts and Massachusetts was taxing them. They didn’t find this fair so they marched to the town hall with pitchforks.
As various Europeans arrived, their relationship with the Indians varied among:
1. Trade
2. Alliance- the Photon Confederacy helped form the state of Virginia by giving the Europeans food and teaching them which crops grew well. Alliances serviced both sides over the years.
3. Warfare- the Europeans had many wars and made many attempts to push the Indians out until the late 1800s when the Europeans got rid of the Indians for good.
The Europeans and the Indians had cultural differences- the Indians understood that land is not to be bought and sold. Land is here for the common and is to be shared.
The first European settlement was formed in 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. However it was not one of the thirteen original colonies so it doesn’t go down as the first settlement. The European settlement of Jamestown, Virginia was settled in 1607. By 1732 Georgia, the last of the thirteen colonies, was settled.
Many indentured servants, people who sold themselves as slaves in order to pay for their passage overseas, came over from Europe to America. A majority of the people who came over were British, therefore we speak English in America. They also brought over their culture, therefore our cultures are linked.
Why did people come over?
1. Economic opportunities- to make money. This also benefited the kings. For example, Georgia was formed by debtors. King George opened up the doors of the debtors prisons and told them to go. As thanks, they named their colony after him.
2. Religious reasons- people came to practice religion freely. The pilgrims, for example, came to escape religious persecution.
3. Political reasons- people came to escape political persecution.
Geography shaped their experience in the colonies so much so that the thirteen colonies were divided into three groups:
1. New England colonies- these were the north-most colonies such as Massachusetts and New Hampshire. These colonies experienced cold and hardships in farming and planting cash crops. Many went into ship building and trade. The ports of Salem and Boston, Massachusetts were the most famed ports in the colonies.
2. Middle colonies- such as New York and Pennsylvania. These colonies had very diverse populations. They also had the ability to farm because of the fertile soil. They grew corn and wheat, which they exported. Trade helped build the New York and Pennsylvanian cities.
3. Southern colonies- had a warmer climate where agriculture flourished. The rich soil grew tobacco, rice and indigo, which were grown for export. Many of the colonists were very rich.
At first the colonists used indentured servants to work the land for them. However after so many years, there were no indentured servants yet. To replace them, the colonists attempted to use Indians. The Indians didn’t prove to be as hearty as the Africans, so the idea of enslaving Africans began and the slave trade grew steadily.
Some trades were two way trades. The slave trade though was a triangular trade. The New England merchants traded rum for slaves (who resisted) and then the slaves were sold to people who needed them in the West Indies for molasses or sugar.
The idea of bringing Africans over to work didn’t originate in the colonies. It evolved over time. The horrific voyage from Africa over the Atlantic Ocean was known as the Middle Passage.
African culture leaked into the US such as:
1. Music
2. Food
3. Literature
4. Folk Art
5. Architecture
Historical influences on the American government:
1. Athens, Greece- supported the first democracy. It was a true democracy where everyone got the right to vote.
2. Rome- was a republic. Rome had a representative democracy, which is what we have today. People elected people to vote for them.
3. England became a limited democracy through-
a. Magna Carta- allowed trial by jury for the nobles. This was massive because it limited the king’s power.
b. 1628, Petition of Rights- King Charles was forced to agree to the writ of habeas corpus- people can’t be thrown into jail without being told why.
c. 1689, Bill of Rights- by the Glorious Revolution. This was the start of parliamentary government in England.
4. Enlightenment thinkers-
a. John Locke (England) - came up with the idea that if there are systems to nature, man has a part in it. He said man has natural rights of life, liberty and property. Locke also had the Social Contract theory- the government and the people make a contract and if either side breaks the contract, there are repercussions.
b. Baron de Montesquieu (France) - felt parliamentary was successful because of the division of power. He said division of power is a great thing.
c. Rousseau- said people rule by the consent of the governed.
d. Voltaire- he defended the right to speak and all other intolerances.
5. The colonists own experiences here- most of the colonies got a charter and started with some measure of self government. In 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses agreed to govern themselves and govern fairly- they copied England. In 1620, before the Pilgrims even got off the Mayflower, they signed the Mayflower Compact. All the colonies knew that whatever they set up would be a limited government which would protect the rights of the people to make charters, have property… An early example of freedom of speech was the German newspaper publisher, John Peter Zenger. He wrote against the governor of New York, and when tried, he was found not guilty. This helped establish the idea of freedom of the press.
Causes of the American Revolution:
The British didn’t hover over their colonies; they displayed a policy of salutary neglect- ignored the colonies somewhat, but in a healthy manner. Because of this policy, the colonies had many years of self government under their belts.
The English and the French were age old rivals, and their wars spilled into the colonies. In 1763, the Seven Years war, also known as the French and Indian war broke out, and ended with the British victorious over the French. The Treaty of Paris was made between the English and French- it gave England all the land up until the Mississippi river.
The colonists began to move out west. The English didn’t want this so they issued the Proclamation of 1763, which stated that no one could move past the old boundary of the Appalachian Mountains. This bothered the colonists.
As a result of the war, the English treasury was depleted so they began to tax the colonists because they felt the colonists should be paying for their own protection:
1. Sugar Act- on imports
2. Stamp Act- on written documents
This annoyed the colonists deeply. They felt there should be “no taxation without representation”. These taxes were repealed, and then came another tax:
3. Townshend Act
The colonists had developed independent thoughts about government. About ninety percent of the colonists were land owning, white males and would’ve been able to vote in England.
The English went ahead and placed another tax on the colonists: the Tea act- this gave the British merchants in England much of the control over the tea industry. They made it cheap, but the colonists were unable to buy other teas. The colonial response to this act was the Boston Tea Party. As a result to the Boston Tea Party, the British placed the Intolerable act on the colonists:
1. Shut down the Boston Harbor
2. Didn’t allow for town hall meetings
3. Shut down the legislature in Massachusetts
Delegates from each of the colonies met in Philadelphia to decide what to do. This became known as the First Continental Congress. They sent a declaration to King George stating their unhappiness. The delegates decided to meet again if the situation wouldn’t improve.
As time passed, the colonists began to stash weapons just in case they would be needed. News leaked out through Paul Revere that the British were headed for Concord, Massachusetts to raid the arsenals. Some colonists met them at Lexington, Massachusetts (before they reached Concord). A shot was fired and about twenty four colonists were killed. The battle lasted for about fifteen minuets, and then the British moved onto Concord. There were no weapons there, but the British were met by a large group of colonists. There were some British casualties. These battles at Concord and Lexington go down as the first battles of the American Revolution.
In May of 1775, the Second Continental Congress met and decided to set up an army with George Washington as general. The Second Continental Congress was the official government body until after the war.
In June of 1775 was the Battle of Bunkerhill, with 311 colonial and 1000 British casualties.
In July of 1775, they sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George, asking to work things out. The king said since you are rebellious colonies, you’ll be treated as such and he blockaded their waters.
The thoughts towards independence began to grow:
1. Patrick Henry
2. The Sons of Liberty- under Samuel Adams
3. Thomas Paine- wrote Common Sense. This had the greatest impacts on thoughts of independence.
The delegates tried to draft a Declaration of Independence. Its foremost writer was Thomas Jefferson and it was signed by the colonial delegates in 1776.
The Declaration of Independence had three parts:
1. Preamble- it stated our theories of government:
a. Government by consent of the governed
b. Belief that all men are created equally
2. List of all their grievances against the king
3. The declaration of independence
Soon after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the colonists lost more battles.
In late 1777, was the turning point of the war at the Battle of Saratoga. The colonists won a decisive victory and some European nations such as France and Prussia decided to help the colonists.
Then came the difficult winter at Valley Forge. It was very cold and hard for the troops, but General Washington stayed with his soldiers to give support. The army had also excelled because of the help they received.
In October of 1781, was the final battle in Yorktown, Virginia. It was here that the British surrendered and the war was over.
They went to Paris to sign the treaty in 1783. The United States of America received all the land up until the Mississippi river.
How did the colonies win?
1. Foreign help
2. They were fighting a desperate cause and they had inspirational leaders.
During the war, the British didn’t behave in a proper manner and many loyalists came over to the patriot side. Many women also went out to the battlefield where they mended, helped and even fought.
The United States of America decided to set up a confederation- a bunch of loosely linked states. The National government is going to be even looser than the state government.
A list of laws known as the Articles of Confederation was written up:
1. No executive branch
2. No main leader
3. Every state got one vote so they were all equal in power.
4. If anyone wanted something changed in the Articles of the Confederation, all thirteen states had to agree.
5. The federal government can’t tax the people. If the federal government wanted money, they had to borrow from the state.
6. Every state could coin their own money.
7. The federal government can’t regulate trade between the colonies.
8. No federal justice- no court system.
The Articles of Confederation did some positive things too:
1. Worked out the Treaty of Paris
2. Passed the Land Ordinance Act of 1785 and again in 1787- set up a system of how new states could be admitted into the union.
The states weren’t governing themselves so successfully; there were issues with in every state. The event that made everyone realize this wasn’t going to work was Shays’s Rebellion- Daniel Shays was a farmer who fought during the war. When he came home he and other farmers had accrued debts and Massachusetts was taxing them. They didn’t find this fair so they marched to the town hall with pitchforks.
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