background preloader

Expansionism

Facebook Twitter

Jacksonian Democracy - Facts & Summary. Such tendentious revisionism may provide a useful corrective to older enthusiastic assessments, but it fails to capture a larger historical tragedy: Jacksonian Democracy was an authentic democratic movement, dedicated to powerful, at times radical, egalitarian ideals—but mainly for white men. Socially and intellectually, the Jacksonian movement represented not the insurgency of a specific class or region but a diverse, sometimes testy national coalition. Its origins stretch back to the democratic stirrings of the American Revolution, the Antifederalists of the 1780s and 1790s, and the Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans. More directly, it arose out of the profound social and economic changes of the early nineteenth century.

Recent historians have analyzed these changes in terms of a market revolution. Not everyone benefited equally from the market revolution, least of all those nonwhites for whom it was an unmitigated disaster. There was a grim, ironic justice to the Jacksonians’ fate. Jacksonian Democracy and Modern America. Andrew Jackson rose to national prominance as a General during the War of 1812. The presidential election of 1828 brought a great victory for Andrew Jackson. Not only did he get almost 70 percent of the votes cast in the electoral college, popular participation in the election soared to an unheard of 60 percent. This more than doubled the turnout in 1824; Jackson clearly headed a sweeping political movement.

His central message remained largely the same from the previous election, but had grown in intensity. Jackson warned that the nation had been corrupted by "special privilege," characterized especially by the policies of the Second Bank of the United States. The proper road to reform, according to Jackson, lay in an absolute acceptance of majority rule as expressed through the democratic process. Beyond these general principles, however, Jackson's campaign was notably vague about specific policies. Jackson's election marked a new direction in American politics. Report broken link. Seneca Falls in 1848 - Women's Rights National Historical Park. In the 1790s, the first white settlers founded Seneca Falls alongside the falls of the Seneca River, a mile-long series of rapids with a combined drop of 49 feet. Participants in the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign (1779) had recognized the potential of the area and returned.

The Continental Army’s Campaign is considered by some an astounding military feat, by others a tragic devastation of the homelands of the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations. By 1794 the state of New York had charted a route for the Great Western Road, a section of which crossed the Seneca River using the main street (Fall Street) through the settlement of Seneca Falls. By 1800 the Seneca Road Company was established to maintain and improve the condition of the roadway. Locally the thoroughfare became known as the Seneca Turnpike. The Bayard Company held a monopoly on the area's abundant waterpower and controlled access to the falls of Seneca Falls.

Social and religious upheavals during this period were considerable. The First Women's Rights Convention - Women's Rights National Historical Park. The Erie Canal and the Network to Freedom - Women's Rights National Historical Park. Abolition, Women's Rights, and Temperance Movements - Women's Rights National Historical Park. Women in the 19th Century: Crash Course US History #16.

The Monroe Doctrine -- A Brief Explanation. Monroe Doctrine, 1823 - 1801–1829 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. In his December 2, 1823, address to Congress, President articulated United States’ policy on the new political order developing in the rest of the Americas and the role of Europe in the Western Hemisphere. President James Monroe The statement, known as the Monroe Doctrine, was little noted by the Great Powers of Europe, but eventually became a longstanding tenet of U.S. foreign policy.

Monroe and his Secretary of State drew upon a foundation of American diplomatic ideals such as disentanglement from European affairs and defense of neutral rights as expressed in Washington’s Farewell Address and Madison’s stated rationale for waging the . The three main concepts of the doctrine—separate spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe, non-colonization, and non-intervention—were designed to signify a clear break between the New World and the autocratic realm of Europe. British Foreign Minister George Canning. Coal, Steam, and The Industrial Revolution: Crash Course World History #32.

Industrial Revolution - Social Studies. Industrial Revolution - Facts & Summary. The textile industry, in particular, was transformed by industrialization. Before mechanization and factories, textiles were made mainly in people’s homes (giving rise to the term cottage industry), with merchants often providing the raw materials and basic equipment, and then picking up the finished product.

Workers set their own schedules under this system, which proved difficult for merchants to regulate and resulted in numerous inefficiencies. In the 1700s, a series of innovations led to ever-increasing productivity, while requiring less human energy. For example, around 1764, Englishman James Hargreaves (1722-1778) invented the spinning jenny (“jenny” was an early abbreviation of the word “engine”), a machine that enabled an individual to produce multiple spools of threads simultaneously. By the time of Hargreaves’ death, there were over 20,000 spinning jennys in use across Britain. Developments in the iron industry also played a central role in the Industrial Revolution. Building the Erie Canal | Social Studies. Teachers, please read the following before creating accounts for your students: PBS LearningMedia permits teachers to create accounts for their students so that they can access educational content.

When creating accounts for your students, please provide the following information for each student: For the email field, use your student's school-issued email address. If one is not available, create a placeholder email address using the school name and the student's last name with "@pbslm.org" e.g. "glenwoodgarcia@pbslm.org. " Note: because placeholder email addresses are non-working, you and your students will not be able to use them to retrieve forgotten passwords. See the Help section if you need more information about creating student accounts. Canal History - New York State Canals. The New York State Canal System is not only rich in history, but also culture. Many immigrants worked long and hard on "Clinton’s Ditch" to create this magnificent waterway. Folklore, songs and speech lingo emerged from those individuals working along the Canal. As the population grew and the Canal prospered, it became not only a transportation waterway, but also a vacation area for the well-to-do.

At one time, more than 50,000 people depended on the Erie Canal for their livelihood. For those who traveled along the Canal in packet boats or passenger vessels, the Canal was an exciting place. Today, the Canal has returned to its former glory and is filled with pleasure boats, fishermen and cyclists riding the former towpaths where mules once trod. The Erie Canal: A Brief History "Traveling on the Erie Canal" The original Illustration was taken from Graham's Magazine, 1828. Explorers had long searched for a water route to the west. Today, the waterway network has been renamed again. War of 1812–1815 - 1801–1829 - Milestones - Office of the Historian.

War of 1812–1815 As an important neutral trading nation, the United States became ensnarled in the European conflict that pitted Napoleonic France against Great Britain and her continental allies. War of 1812 In 1806 France prohibited all neutral trade with Great Britain and in 1807 Great Britain banned trade between France, her allies, and the Americas. Congress passed an embargo act in 1807 in retaliation, prohibiting U.S. vessels from trading with European nations, and later the Non-Intercourse Acts, aimed solely at France and Britain. The embargo and non-intercourse act proved ineffective and in 1810 the United States reopened trade with France and Great Britain provided they ceased their blockades against neutral trading.

Pro-British Federalists in Washington were outraged by what they considered Republican favoritism toward France. Under the mediation of the Czar of Russia, Great Britain and the United States came together in the summer of 1814 to negotiate the terms of peace. Home | The War of 1812. For two and a half years, Americans fought Against the British, Canadian colonists, and native nations. In the years to come, the War of 1812 would be celebrated in some places and essentially forgotten in others. But it is a war worth remembering—a struggle that threatened the existence of Canada, then divided the United States so deeply that the nation almost broke apart. Some of its battles and heroes became legendary, yet its blunders and cowards were just as prominent. The film shows how the glories of war became enshrined in history – how failures are quickly forgotten – how inconvenient truths are ignored forever.

With stunning re-enactments, evocative animation and the incisive commentary of key experts, The War of 1812 presents the conflict that forged the destiny of a continent. The War of 1812 premiered October 2011. Check Local Listings to see when it's airing on your local PBS station. Click on the play button below to watch a preview of The War of 1812.

War of 1812 - Facts & Summary. Louisiana Purchase - Facts & Summary. The Louisiana Purchase Video - Shmoop. Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase. One of the first colored illustrations to be put into print, John H.B. Latrobe's The Balise. Mississippi River captures the haunting image of a navigation station under a full moon at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Jefferson's plans for the nation depended upon western expansion and access to international markets for American farm products. This vision was threatened, however, when France regained control of Louisiana. Blocking American access to New Orleans was such a grave threat to American interests that President Jefferson considered changing his traditional foreign policy stance to an anti-French alliance with the British.

Surprisingly, however, Napoleon offered much more. L. Napoleon with the King of Rome (Napoleon III) sitting on his lap. Napoleon's asking price worked out to be about four cents an acre. The deal was struck in April 1803, but it brought a good deal of controversy. Most of the Senate agreed and the Louisiana Purchase easily passed 26 to 6. Louisiana Purchase, 1803 - 1801–1829 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. Louisiana Purchase, 1803 The Louisiana Purchase refers to the 530,000,000 acres of territory in North America that the United States purchased from France in 1803 for US $15 million. The Louisiana Purchase As the United States spread across the Appalachians, the Mississippi River became increasingly important as a conduit for the produce of America’s West (which at that time refered to the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi). Since 1762, Spain had owned the territory of Louisiana, which included 828,000 square miles, and which now makes up all or part of fifteen separate states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.

This situation was threatened by Napoleon Bonaparte’s plans to revive the French empire in the New World. James Monroe In addition to making military preparations for a conflict in the Mississippi Valley, Jefferson sent James Monroe to join Robert Livingston in France to try to purchase New Orleans and West Florida for as much as $10 million. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 Explained in 3 Minutes: US History Review. American History USA. Map of the Northwest Territory, including a depiction of the Township system In its brief existence, the Confederation Congress passed little legislation of lasting import. One of the few exceptions was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which controlled the admission of the Midwest states and laid the legal groundwork for their functioning. One of Thomas Jefferson's often overlooked accomplishments is the work that he devoted to this plan.

Less renowned but equally important advocates were Nathan Dane and Rufus King. The ordinance applied to the Northwest Territory, which consisted of the entire Midwest located east of the Mississippi River. Overview of the Northwest Ordinance Admission of new states It had been decided in other acts that the western areas of the United States should be admitted as separate states, and that the currently admitted states would not be allowed to expand. The Northwest Ordinance laid out the details of the admission process. Voting rights and office-holding. LIBERTY! . Northwest Ordinance. The Northwest Ordinance established a means and precedence by which the United States could expand westward. For a collection of former colonies, extremely sensitive—to say the least—to the fashion in which they'd been governed by England, this was a crucial piece of egaliterian legislation.

The final of four Ordinances was adopted by the Confederation Congress sitting in its last session, in 1787. In sum, the Northwest Ordinance dealt with the territory aquired from Great Britain in the aftermath of the war—land north of the Ohio River and east of Mississippi. It made four crucial promises to prospective states in this region. First, that each would enter the union "on an equal footing with the original states. " Second, that revenue generated from the sale of a portion of each township in the state would go to fund public education—the first instance of federal aid for education in American history. Third, "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude" were to be allowed. Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance — History.com This Day in History — 7/13/1787. On this day in 1787, Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance, structuring settlement of the Northwest Territory and creating a policy for the addition of new states to the nation.

The members of Congress knew that if their new confederation were to survive intact, it had to resolve the states' competing claims to western territory. In 1781, Virginia began by ceding its extensive land claims to Congress, a move that made other states more comfortable in doing the same. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson first proposed a method of incorporating these western territories into the United States. His plan effectively turned the territories into colonies of the existing states. Ten new northwestern territories would select the constitution of an existing state and then wait until its population reached 20,000 to join the confederation as a full member. Three years later, the Northwest Ordinance proposed that three to five new states be created from the Northwest Territory.

Northwest Ordinance; July 13, 1787. Northwest Ordinance; July 13, 1787 An Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio. Section 1. Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient. Sec 2. Sec. 3. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be appointed from time to time by Congress, a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress; he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein in 1,000 acres of land, while in the exercise of his office.

Sec. 4. Sec. 5. Sec. 6. Sec. 7. Sec. 8. Sec. 9. Sec. 10. Sec. 11. Sec. 12. Sec. 13. Sec. 14. Art. 1. Art. 2. Art. 3. Art. 4. Art. 5. Art. 6. Looking for Foreign Land 1800s US Expansion Overseas. Expansion & Reform, 1800-1860. Establishing Borders: The Expansion of the United States, 1846-48. The U.S.-Mexican War . Prelude to War . Manifest Destiny: An Introduction. The U.S.-Mexican War . Prelude to War . Expansionism and Imperialism.