Key Concept 4.1 —The United States began to develop a modern democracy and celebrated a new national culture, while Americans sought to define the nation’s democratic ideals and change their society and institutions to match them.
I. The nation’s transformation to a more participatory democracy was achieved by expanding suffrage from a system based on property ownership to one based on voting by all adult white men, and it was accompanied by the growth of political parties.
Jefferson’s Presidency
Jefferson reduced the size of the military, repealed excise taxes (including the whiskey tax), and lowered national debt
Suspended the Alien and Sedition Acts
Maintained the national bank & neutral foreign policy
Adopted a loser interpretation of the Constitution in order to purchase the Louisiana Territory - strengthened Jefferson’s hopes that the US would be based on an agrarian society of independent farmers
Jefferson feared that foreign control of the river at New Orleans would cause the US to be entangled in European affairs
Marbury v. Madison - John Adams’ midnight judges established the doctrine of judicial review - supreme court could overrule action of the other two branches
Aaron Burr’s Quids - accused Jefferson of abandoning Democratic-Republican principles
British impressment of American sailors & British warship fired on the US Chesapeake which killed three Americans - Anti-British feeling and hurt pride among Americans
In response, Jefferson passed the Embargo Acts in hopes of pressuring the British out of impressment - backfired & bought greater economic hardship to the US
Madison’s Presidency:
Election of 1808 - Federalists gained seats in Congress as a result of the effects of the embargo
Nonintercourse Act - after repeal of the Embargo Acts, Americans could now trade with any nation other than Britain & France
War of 1812 -
British presence on the western frontier & interference with US expansion
British allied with Natives included Tecumseh & his brother who attempted pan-tribal cooperation - taught Natives to differ from American culture
War hawks - young Democratic-Republicanas led by Clay & Calhoun - argued that the only way to defend American honor was to go to war with Britain & destroy Native resistance
New England merchants, quids, and federalist politicians were against the war because they feared losing trading relationships/ exports & sympathized with the British over the French because of commercial interests & religious ties to Protestantism
Quids criticized the war because it opposed Democratic-Republican ideas of limited federal power & the maintenance of peace
War ended with no gain or boundary change for either side
For its opposition to the war & the timeliness of the Hartford Convention the Federalist party came to an end
Afterwards: US gained respect among other nations, Natives forced to cede land, US moved toward industrial self-sufficiency, Jackson emerged as a war hero, nationalism grew stronger
II. While Americans embraced a new national culture, various groups developed distinctive cultures of their own.
Era of Good Feeling
End of partisan division & the Federalist party
Spirit of nationalism & optimism
Democratic-Republican party adopted some Federalist policies
Debates over tariffs, national bank, internal improvements, and public land sales
Sectional tensions over slavery
Monroe represented the growing nationalism of Americans - younger American believed the nation was entering an era of unlimited prosperity
Patriotic themes infused in art, literature, etc.
Monroe’s Presidency:
Congress raised the tariffs in order to protect US manufacturers from European competition
American System -Proposed by Henry Clay Protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements, Individual states were left to make internal improvements on their own - Monroe vetoed because he believed the Constitution did not give the federal government power for internal improvements
Panic of 1819 - first major financial panic
caused by the Second Bank tightening credit in an effort to control inflation
Political factions & sectional differences became more prominent
The Missouri Compromise -Congress attempting to preserve a sectional balance between the North & South. Admit Missouri as a slave state, admit Maine as a free state, prohibit slavery North of the latitude 36 degrees. Preserved sectional balance for about 30 years
Americans torn between feelings of nationalism & sectionalism
Treaty of 1811 - improved relations between the US & Britain - established the western US-Canada boundary line
Chaotic conditions of Seminoles in Florida gave Monroe & Jackson an opportunity for military action to gain control of the Florida territory
Florida purchase treaty of 1819 - Spain gave up all it’s land claims to the US except for Texas
Monroe Doctrine - asserted the Western Hemisphere as a US sphere of influence - warned European nations against colonization in the Americas
Later used regarding US foregin policy in Latin America
Marshall Court Cases:
Fletcher v. Peck - state could not pass legislation invalidating a contract
Martin v. Hunter’s Lease - Supreme Court had jurisdiction over state courts in cases involving constitutional rights
Dartmouth College v. Woodward - contract for a private corporation could not be altered by the state
McCulloch v. Maryland - state could not tax a federal institution
Cohens v. Virginia - Supreme court could review a state court’s decision involving any of the powers of the federal government
Gibbons v. Ogden - federal government's broad control of interstate commerce
III. Increasing numbers of Americans, many inspired by new religious and intellectual movements, worked primarily outside of government institutions to advance their ideals.
Second Great Awakening - Religious revivals that swept through the United States in the early 19th century, Reaction against rationalism and calvinist (Puritan) teachings of original sin and predestination
Successful preachers we're audience-centered and easily understood by the uneducated - spoke about the opportunity for salvation for all
On the frontier - Finney appealed to people’s emotions of fear of damnation - every individual could be saved through faith & hard work - appealed mainly to the middle class - located in upstate New York
South/ Western frontiers - Baptist & Methodist preachers (Peter Cartwright) travel to different locations & attract thousands to hear their dramatic preaching at outdoor revivals - by 1850, Baptists & Methodists were the largest Protestant denomination
Mormon church founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in New York - beliefs based on the book of Scripture - forced to move west near the Great Salt Lake in Utah
Second Great Awakening caused division between the new, evangelical sects & the older Protestant churches
Activist religious groups provided the leadership & organized societies that drove many reform movements
Transcendentalism
Romanticism - writers & artists shifted away from Enlightenment emphasis on balance, order, & reason toward feeling, intuition, individual acts of heroism, & the study of nature
Expressed in the United States by transcendentalists
Writers Emerson & Thoreau questioned the doctrines of established churches & business practices of the merchant class - argued for a mystical & intuitive way of thinking as a means for discovering one’s inner self & looking for the essence of God in nature
Supported antislavery movements
Emerson - encouraged a nationalstic spirit of Americans by urging to create a distinctive American culture
Argued for self-reliance, independent thinking, & the primacy or spiritual matters
Thoreau - used observation of nature to discover essential truths about life & the universe
Essys and actions would inspire the nonviolent movements of both Mohandas Gandhi & Martin Luther King Jr.
Brook Farm - people living out transcendentalist ideals in an experimental community
Known for its atmosphere of artistic creativity, innovative school, & appeal to New England’s intellectual elite
Shakers - religious communal movement - kept women & men strictly separate
Amana Colonies - German who belonged to Piestist religious reform movements
New Harmony - non religious experiment by reformer Robert Owen
Oneida Community - dedicated to an ideal of perfect social & economic equality
Fourier Phalanxes - advocated the people share work & housing in communities known as Fourier Phalanxes
Arts & Literature
Painting - portrayed the everyday life of ordinary people
Hudson River School - expressed romantic age’s fascination with the natural world
Architecture - adapted Greek styles to glorify the democratic spirit of the republic
Columed facades on public buildings, banks, hotels, & some private homes
Literature - American people became more eager to read works of American authors about American themes
Reforming Society
Temperance - Because of social ills & high alcohol consumption, reformers & Protestant ministers founded the American Temperance Society
Society tried to persuade drinkers to take a pledge of total abstinence
Washingtonians - argued that alcoholism was a disease that needed treatment
German & Irish immigrants opposed - lacked political power to prevent governments from passing reforms
Humanitarian Reforms - called attention to the increasing number of criminals & emotionally disturbed persons
Reformers proposed setting up new public institutions, mental hospitals, & state-supported prisons
Social reforms to establish free public schools for children of all classes
Many educational reformers wanted children to learn moral principles
Roman Catholics founded private schools for the instruction of Catholic children
Religious enthusiasm of the Second Great Awakening fueled the growth of private colleges
Changing Social Structures
Cult of Domesticity - idealized view of women as moral leaders in the home
Seneca Falls Convention - first women’s rights convention in American history - issued the Declaration of Sentiments & listed women’s grievances
Stanton & Susan B. Anthony led the campaign for equal voting, legal, & property rights for women
In the 1850s, issues of women’s rights was overshadowed by the crisis of slavery
Second Great Awakening led many Christians to view slavery as a sin
William Loyd Garrison - began the radical abolitionist movement - advocated immediate abolition of slavery
Founded the American Antislavery Society
Liberty Party - campagin pledge to bring about the end of slavery by political & legal means
Frederick Douglass - advocated both political & direct action to end slavery & racial prejudice
Nat Turner - led a revolt in which 55 whites were killed
Hundred of African Americans killed to put down revolt
Fear of future uprisings put an end to antislavery talk in the South
Key Concept 4.2 — Innovations in technology, agriculture, and commerce powerfully accelerated the American economy, precipitating profound changes to U.S. society and to national and regional identities.
I. New transportation systems and technologies dramatically expanded manufacturing and agricultural production.
Pennsylvania’s Lancaster Turnpike’s success stimulate the construction of other privately built roads
States’ rights blocked the spending of federal funds on internal improvements
Erie canal - linked the economics of western farms with eastern cities - stimulated canal building in other states
Improved transportation = lower food prices in the East, more immigrants settling in the West, stronger economic ties between the two sections
Commercially operated steamboat lines made round-trip shipping faster & cheaper
Railroads changed small western towns into booming commercial centers & created rapid reliable links between cities
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 & devised a system for making rifles with a system of interchangeable parts - basis of mass production methods in Northern factories
1811 - New York passed a tax to make it easier for a business to raise capital by selling shares of stock
Samuel Slater helped establish the first US factory in 1791 - embargo and the War of 1812 stimulated domestic manufacturing
As the factory system expanded, it encouraged the growth of financial businesses such as banking & insurance
Textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts recruited young women - easy management because the women lived on site - 1830s other factories imitated the Lowell system
Northern manufacturers began to employ immigrants
Unions we're organized in major cities as factory system took hold - specialized jobs/ the craft system could no longer compete with lower-priced, mass-produced goods
Long hours, low pay, & poor working conditions led to discontent among factory workers
Early 1800s - farming became more of a commercial enterprise
Canals and railroads opened new markets
Cotton became more profitable with the invention of the cotton gin - most exports to British textile factories
II. The changes caused by the market revolution had significant effects on U.S. society, workers’ lives, and gender and family relations
Factories caused the standardization of time, most people worked for bosses/ wages, & the end of self-sufficient households
Women gained relatively more control over their lives - still limited by legal restrictions (couldn’t vote)
Gap between the wealthy and the poor grew
Social mobility (moving upward in income level and social status) did occur from one generation to the next - economic opportunities in the US were greater than in Europe
Rapid growth of the cotton industry & the expansion of slavery into new states increased the amount of slaves & ended hopes for a quiet end to slavery
III. Economic development shaped settlement and trade patterns, helping to unify the nation while also encouraging the growth of different regions
North
Connected by transportation routes
Interconnectedness with the west
Economic growth based on commercial farming and industrial innovation
Agriculture was still prominent
Most populous region - high birth rate and increased immigration
Workers dependant on wages organized both unions and local political parties
Improvements for workers limited by periodic depressions, hostile unions, and abundance of cheap labor
Slums expanded
African americans in the north represented 50% of all free African Americans - still faced racial discrimination & no voting rights
Development of thriving cities that served as transfer points for manufactured goods
South
Agriculture foundation of Southern economy
By 1850s - cotton provided two-thirds of all US exports - linked South and Britain
Wealth was measured in terms of land and slaves
In the deep south, slaves made up of 75% of the total population
Southern legislatures added increased restrictions on movement and education to their slave codes
Cotton boom responsible for an increase in slaves
Planter aristocracy maintained power by dominating state legislatures - enacted laws that favored the large landholders’ economic interests
Mountain people
Increasingly isolated and defensive about slavery
Feudal society
West
Land that lay beyond the Mississippi River and reached to California and the Oregon Territory
Vast majority of Natives were living west of the Mississippi River
Nomadic way of lay for many Native tribes - could more easily oppose settlers
In the public eye, the west represented he possibility of a fresh start and greater freedom for all ehtnic groups
Mountain men served as guides and pathfinders for settlers crossing the mountains
Daily life of frontier people was similar to early colonists - diseases and malnutrition were common dangers
Frontier women had short lifespans
Frontier people exhausted soil and cleared forests - little understanding of the fragility of nature and the wildlife
Key Concept 4.3- The U.S. interest in increasing foreign trade and expanding its national borders shaped the nation’s foreign policy and spurred government and private initiatives.
Struggling to create an independent global presence, the United States sought to claim territory throughout the North American continent and promote foreign trade.
Louisiana Purchase allowed US to gain western territory - explored by Lewis & Clark
Congress consistently lowered the price of land to encourage migration
War of 1812 - fought to gain control of Western Territories from British presences
British allied with & armed Natives encouraging resistance of frontier settlers
Adams-Onis treaty acquired Florida from Spain
John Quincy Adams - most important diplomat
negotiated Treaty of Ghent & British-US Canadian border
wrote the Monroe Doctrine as a response to independence movements in Central & South America
Monroe Doctrine and position of neutrality would drive America’s foregin policy into the 20th century
Native American Removal
War of 1812 caused Creeks to cede millions of of acres
Jackson supported Georgian frontier settlers against the Cherokee
Indian Removal Act of 1830 - “asked” Natives east of the Mississippi to move to dedicated land for Native Americans
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia - Cherokee were not a sovereign nation - under the federal government
Worcester v. Georgia - a state had no right to tell the Cherokee what to do - it was a federal matter
Andrew Jackson openly defied the Supreme Court ruling
Trail of Tear resulted in 3,000 Cherokee dying when forced to relocate during winter
“Manifest Destiny” - expressed belief that the United States had a divine mission to extend its power & civilization across North America
Enthusiasm for expansion drives by nationalism, population increase, rapid economic development, technological advances, & reform ideals
Conflicts over Texas, Maine, & Oregon
By 1830, Americans (white farmers & black enslaved people) outnumbered Mexicans in Texas by three to one
1829 - tensions increased when Mexicans outlawed slavery & required all immigrants to convert to Roman Catholicism
When American’s refused, Mexico closes Texas to additional American immigrants
American from Southern states ignored Mexican prohibition
General Antionio Lopez made himself dictator -- American settlers led by Sam Houston revolted & declared Texas to be an independent republic
Sam Hourston captured Mexican general & applied for Texas to be added to the United States as a new state - Jackson & Van Buren put off annexation
John Tyler worked to annex Texas - US senate rejected his treaty of annexation in 1844
Northerners opposed to the annexation of Texas
Aroostook War - conflict between rival groups of lumbermen on the Maine-Canadian border
Conflict resolved in Webster-Ashburton Treaty - disputed territory was split between Maine & British Canada
The US based its claims to Oregon/ Pacific territory on…
Discovery of the Columbia river
Expedition of Lewis & Clark
Fur trading post & fort in Astoria, Oregon
Protestant missionaries & farmers settled in the Willamette Valley in the 1840s - success in farming the fertile valley caused 5,000 Americans to catch “Oregon fever” & travel down the Oregon Trail to settle the area south of the Columbia River
British & American negotiators agreed to divide the Oregon territory at the 49th parallel
War with Mexico
Polk wanted Slidell to…
Persuade Mexico to sell the California & New Mexico territories to the US
Settle the disputed Mexico-Texas border
Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande & captured an American army - killing 11
Congress approved war resolutions
General Stephen Kearney succeeded in taking Santa Fe & southern California
General Winfield Scott’s army succeeded in taking Vera Cruz & then captured Mexico City in 1847
Mexican government was forced agree to US terms
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas
United States took possession of California & New Mexico - US paid $15 million & assumed responsibility for any claims of American citizens against Mexico
Acquisition of vast western lands renewed sectional debate over the extension of slavery
Northerners viewed the war with Mexico as part of a Southern plot to extend the “slave power”
Many Southerners we're dissatisfied with the territorial gains from the Mexican war - most eagerly sought possibility was the acquisition of Cuba
The United States’ acquisition of lands in the West gave rise to contests over the extension of slavery into new territories
Cotton gin & opportunity for land expansion that resulted from the Lousiana Purchase & the War of 1812 resulted in the expansion of slavery & the creation of the “Deep South”
Antislavery movements increased in the North
abolitionist such as Douglass
Southern argument - slavery as a “positive good” - the argument that Southerners took better care of enslaved people than the North did of industrial workers
Henry Clay created the Missouri Compromise
Missouri admitted as a slave state, Maine admitted as a free state - no future slavery north of the 36 degree 30’ line - helped to temporarily balance sectionalism between the North and South