The Growth of a Young Nation 18001850

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The Growth of a Young Nation1800-1850

• Chapter Three

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1.) Growth

• In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size
  of the country.  By 1837, the number of states
  had doubled to 26.
• American explorers were venturing into new
  territories, the most famous of whom were Lewis
  and Clark.
• The country grew in terms of populations, size,
  transportation, technology, etc.
• Overall, Americans were happy during this time
  period except for women, Natives, and African
  Americans.

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2.)  War of 1812

• This was the first crisis of the time period, a
  war between Great Britain and the US.
• The US was tired of GB and Canada interfering
  with trade and encouraging Natives to harass its
  citizens so they declared war.
• Americans were still too weak.
• By land, Americans lost as they tried to forge
  north into Canadian territory.  In the South, the
  Americans made some successes with Andrew Jackson
  in Alabama and New Orleans.
• By water, the British navy was far superior (20
  to 1).  Surprisingly, the Americans were able to
  hold the British off at the Battle of Chesapeake
  Bay.  The British had made it into Washington and
  set fire to the capitol.  President Madison had
  to flea.  It was at this time that "The Star
  Spangled Banner" was written by Sir Francis Scott
  key.
• The war ended with the signing of the treaty of
  Ghent in Belgium in 1814.  No winner was declared
  and the same boundaries were restored.

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3.)  Missouri Compromise

• The issue of slavery was becoming a problem
  because the North had been unable to convince the
  South to get rid of slavery at the Constitutional
  Conventions. 
• When admitting new states to the union. A
  decision had to be made as to how to allow them
  to enter -free or slave?
• An ordinance was passed saying that no state
  could enter as a slave state in the North.  But
  in 1820, Missouri, in the North, wanted to become
  a slave state...  This would have created an
  imbalance, so the North allowed it if they would
  be allowed by the South to divide Massachusetts
  into two states creating Maine.  This kept the
  number of free and slave states equal in the
  senate,

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4.)  Migrating Multitudes

• As the coastal populations became denser,
  Americans of both European and African
  descent began to move west of the Appalachians to
  settle in the Ohio and Mississippi River
  Valleys.  They farmed and cleared the land. 
• The population quadrupled every twenty years, and
  by 1830 the population was 12 million.  The
  population of Natives continued to steadily
  decline due to disease and fighting.

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5.)  Religion (The Second Great Awakening)

• In the early 800s another revival movement
  occurred.  Camp meetings were held with
  evangelical preachers who lured people back to
  Christianity.  It was also a reform
  movement Women and African Americans were
  encouraged to participate and take on leadership
  roles within the Church.

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6.)  Spirit of Improvement (Technology)

• Growth brought about inventions, and new and
  better ways to do old tasks. 
• Education became linked to the key to success
  Noah Webster standardized the language.  Eli
  Whitney invented the cotton-gin (1 pound vs.
  5,000 pounds) improved transportation in the
  form of roads, and canals, better carriages,
  steamships, and trains all began to make an
  appearance.  These things were all inspired by
  the Industrial revolution in Britain when
  machines were created that used steam to create
  things faster, and replaced people or animals in
  doing hard, manual labor. 

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7.)  Capitalism

• Mercantilism was replaced by a new economic
  theory capitalism.
• Banks began to emerge along with the importance
  of establishing credit and money. 
• Manufacturing increased, and more and more goods
  that had been produced in the home were being
  produced in businesses and factories.  People
  began to specialize and divide tasks.  As a
  result the North began to develop rapidly into
  cities with factories.  With these cities came
  poverty and the division of people by social
  class.  This period also saw the first labor
  strikes as people protested low wages and
  horrible working conditions. 
• The South just continued on with slavery and
  agriculture but, slave treatment became even
  harsher as they tried to compete with the
  Industrial north.
• Nat turner, in 1831, led a rebellion of slaves to
  protest the cruel treatment.  He was an educated
  black man and preacher.  He led 70 slaves in SE
  Virginia on a rampage that resulted in the death
  of 55 whites.  They were eventually captured by
  the militia.  Twenty were hung, including turner,
  in a public hanging that also turned violent. The
  crowd turned on other black people in the crowd
  and killed 100 bystanders. 

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8.) Natives

• Natives were still being treated poorly and were
  being forced onto o reservations...
• In 1837-38, President Van Buren forcible removed
  the five peaceful tribes of the Southeast (Ohio,
  Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia). 
  15,000 were sent to Oklahoma.  Â ¼ of them died
  along the way. 
• These removals continued and in the next few
  years 45,000 natives were removed.

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9.)  Reform

• This was a time for reform.
• Religion and the Great Awakening gave the first
  power to women and African Americans.
• Capitalism reformed the mercantilist system.
• Natives began to protest their treatment.  In
  1842(?), Natives took their case to the Supreme
  Court, and were awarded 6 million dollars and
  allowed to return to Georgia and Florida.
• Other Americans began to form utopian communities
  to escape poverty and the harshness of city
  life.  These people shared in the raising of the
  family and divided all chores.  All failed,
• Many prison reforms began to take place as well
  as education reform and the admittance of young
  ladies for formal education.

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10.)  Anti-Slavery Movement

• Abolition really gained momentum in the 1830s.
• The first movement was started by the free
  African Americans and white supporters.  The
  issue began to greatly divide the North and the
  South.  The North began to call for the
  emancipation (freedom) of the slaves. One
  suggestion was colonization, a program that would
  return free blacks to Africa - Liberia 1837.
• Leaders of the Abolitionist movement emerged such
  as William Lloyd Garrison (published an
  anti-slavery newspaper) and Frederick Douglas (a
  freed slave, self educated who would give
  speeches in the north to gain support for his
  cause).
• Many people began to send petitions to the
  Supreme Court.  The Court was so back logged with
  petitions that it enacted the gag-rule in 1836. 
  This disallowed anyone from submitting any more
  petitions on the issue of slavery.  Freedom of
  speech was being denied.

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11.)  Women

• By, gaining power from the church, women began to
  demand equality elsewhere.  They wanted the right
  to vote and began to campaign for it.  This was
  called the suffrage movement.  In 1848 in Seneca
  Falls, New York, suffragists met with their
  leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia
  Mott, and 68 other women, 32 men, and I African
  American to draw up their own Declaration of
  Independence. 

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12.) Moving west, the frontier, Manifest Destiny

• Louisiana really opened up the country to
  settlement.  It also created this belief that
  Americans were destined to control the continent
  - manifest destiny.  This belief led to nations
  of American superiority and the idea that they
  had the right to spread their civilization across
  the continent.  This belief would lead to
  conflicts with Natives and Mexican Americans in
  the South West.  In fact, it led to the
  Mexican-American war with the legendary defeat at
  the Alamo.  Six weeks later the Americans proved
  victorious at the battle of San Jacinto. 
  Skirmished and battles continued until Americans
  conquered Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and
  California.  With the signing of the Tray of
  Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1 million square miles of
  territory was added to US territory and 75,000
  Spanish speaking inhabitants, and 150,000 Natives.

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13.)  The Oregon and California Territory

• After conquering from sea to sea, Americans
  sought to conquer upwards, and that pitted them
  against the British once again. President James
  Polk told Americans that possession was 9/10 the
  law and encouraged Americans to colonize this are
  in 1840. 
• When Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in
  1849, thousand began to flock west which
  encouraged wave after wave of settlement.
• Polk's reelection campaign promised Americans
  that he would fight for a boundary at the
  54â40, but privately knew he would settle at
  the 49th parallel.  This is the border we have
  today with Canada excepting Vancouver Island
  which dips below this line. 

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14.)  Migrants' Motives

• Gold
• Merchants Instead of farmers
• Speculators - acquired large tracts of land and
  sold it for a profit
• Farmers
• Health reasons- Milder climates
• Others came to escape religious persecution

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15.)  The Journey

• The pioneers left in late spring (May) and made
  approximately 15 miles a day following river
  routes, mountain passes, and valleys.
• The beginning of the trip was uneventful, some
  said fun and novel.  The second half of the trip
  became arduous as food shortages began to occur,
  and the pioneers experienced cholera, exhaustion,
  and Indian raids.  From 1840 to 1860, 400
  emigrants were killed by Indians. 
• The last leg of the journey which usually
  occurred in October required the settlers to make
  it across the Sierras and Cascade mountains
  before the first snow fall.  It took
  approximately six months before they could make
  it to Oregon or California, and what they arrived
  to was often harsh and lawless lives in these
  rough mining towns.  (Donner party)
• A stop along the way to California was a town
  called Salt Lake City in Utah to buy supplies. 
  What they found there was a group of Mormons that
  had first been forced out of New York State and
  later Illinois for their beliefs.  They
  experienced great religious persecution.  Their
  founder Joseph Smith had been murdered in 1844,
  so his successor, Brigham Young, led the Mormons
  to Utah.