The Nineteenth Century America - Essay Example

?The Nineteenth Century America I. US acquisitions between 1803 and 1853 After the war of 1812, which was a military conflict between America and theBritish Empire, ended America began to expand its territories towards the West. There was an air of imperialism among the young Americans boosted by Marquis de Lafayette when he returned to the United States in the year 1824. He praised the role played by the young Americans for the nation’s independence. In the year 1819 the Transcontinental Treaty proposed by the then American President John Quincy Adams was signed by the United States and Spain. This treaty reinforced the American belief of territorial expansion. The desire to spread towards the west increased when John Jacob Astor expanded his fur trade company to the Pacific Northwest. With trade expansions the legendary “mountain men” became popular as they were financially facilitated by the fur trade companies to move to other countries in search of profit. During the 1830s and 1840s the Americans expanded their territory westward towards the Pacific Ocean. Besides economic there were other reasons like avoiding religious persecution. Their attempt to establish American ideals into areas that fell into the boundaries of Mexico or Great Britain created diplomatic crisis. The phrase Manifest Destiny was coined in 1845. It manifested the American belief that God has given them the right to expand their territories because of their growing population. The largest acquisition took place in 1803 when America acquired Louisiana territory for $15 million. With this America got control over Mississippi River and the size of the nation became double. America was greatly affected by the era of expansion. The territorial expansions resulted in dividing the nation by causing diplomatic crisis, war and internal conflicts. The economic expansion that took place internally increased class differences and America began to be recognised as a “land of opportunity and upward mobility” (Divine et.al, ch.8, 9, 13). II. Transportation Revolution During the first half of nineteenth century America experienced a growth in market economy. This was helped by development in the transportation sector which created an economic link between different parts of the nation and strengthened the national economy. It was the era of expansion in America when the nation expanded its territory towards the West. Most of the land in the east of Mississippi river became marketing centers to fulfill the needs of the farmers. There was a growing awareness among the political leaders regarding the need of connecting these distant areas with the rest of the nation through a well developed transport system. The initial focus was on developing the road network by building new highways and improving the older roads. Overland toll roads or turnpikes could not provide cheap transportation to cover long distances during bad weather because of their poor conditions. More economically efficient was the water transport. Many canals were constructed to establish links between the rivers Ohio and Mississippi as canals were cheaper to transport heavy agricultural goods than on poorly maintained roads and highways. The most important canal, the Erie Canal, was constructed in 1825. This canal helped in extending the commercial market to New York and this led to economic development in the region. There were also other improvements made on water transport. Steamboats became popular after they were invented in 1807 by Robert Fulton. (Divine et.al, ch.9) The growth of railroads in the 1840s and the 1850s reduced the importance of canals as primary means of freight transport. The expansion of the railroads helped the iron industry of America. It also facilitated financing of business sectors and paved the way for governments to provide land grants (Divine et.al, ch.13). III. Jackson presidential administrations During the 1820s and 1830s the concept of “self-made man” was celebrated in the political culture. It promoted the idea that leaders of the nation may not belong to the “intellectual and economic elite”. Andrew Jackson became the first “people’s president” in the year 1828 by defeating the immediate past president J.Q. Adams. He was backed by the Democratic Party which was a new party at that time. He was one of the most dynamic presidents in the United States of America. He supported the “spoils system” to ensure himself of loyal supporters and advisors. In 1830, Jackson’s administration passed an Act that ordered forceful removal of all Indian tribes to be relocated in the west of Mississippi river. Any protests on humanitarian grounds were ignored by Jackson. He also did not abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling that any such forceful removals are against the constitution of America. In 1838 16,000 people of the last remaining Indian tribe, the “Cherokee”, were forced to abandon their livelihood in Georgia. Under military guard they traveled to Oklahama and since it was winter, around 4,000 Cherokees died from exposure and disease. This unfortunate journey was coined as “Trail of Tears”. Although Jackson supported the rights of states, he felt threatened by nullification of Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832 by South Carolina. In 1833 he forced the state to end the nullification crisis. Between the years 1832-1836 Jackson’s fight to destroy the Second Bank of the United States was strongly opposed by the Congress because of the fear that closure of the bank would destroy the nation’s economy. His closed down the bank because he felt the economy of the country was mostly concentrated in this bank which catered mainly to the rich people. All these exposed his aggressive nature which was highly criticized (Divine et.al, ch.10). IV. Civil war (1861-1865) The American Civil war started in 1861 when seven southern states that advocate slavery declared their secession from the United States of America to form the Confederate States of America. The anti-slavery policy of Abraham Lincoln who became the President of America in 1860 was the cause of the war. The war continued for four years after which slavery was made illegal everywhere in America. The process of secession was a matter of debate and the southern states had varied opinions on the method of secession as well as whether it was at all needed. However, South Carolina alone took the first step towards secession which forced the other six states to join. As war began to seem inevitable the “northern and border state moderates” approached the southern states and tried to arrive at a compromise which was immediately rejected by Lincoln because he felt it would have gone against his anti-slavery policy. The compromise would allow slavery to expand to the Southwest. He also felt that by accepting the compromise he would be betraying the trust of all the Americans who voted because of his policy to remove slavery. In April 1861 the South Carolinians under the leadership of Jefferson Davis attacked a US military camp at Fort Sumter. The result was that Lincoln was backed by all the northern states as volunteer armies from each state responded to the crisis at Fort Sumter. The end result of this event was that a second series of secession conventions took place among the southern states. The fort’s surrender began the American civil war. The northern states used all their “demographic and economic advantages” to fight against the seemingly formidable southern states which turned the war into a long and bloody event. In 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to make abolishment of slavery the primary goal of the war (Divine et.al, ch.15). Both parties of the war initially thought the war would not last long and actual armed conflict began only when the proposed compromise was rejected by Lincoln. Contrary to this view, the war lasted for four long years which resulted in the death of more than 600,000 soldiers (Divine et.al, ch.15). References 1. Divine, Robert A. & et.al. America Past and Present: Ed 9, Pearson Longman, 2010 Read More