Post by buffysmglover on Sept 3, 2007 4:41:55 GMT -5
This was my last assignment in Social Studies last year. Although it is not my best subject, I got a 98% on it.
Expansion in Two Words
A Report by Timothy Cox
Around the early 1800s, the nation of the United States of America began expanding rapidly. Jobs increased. The population slowly began moving westward with each new addition to the US, whether it be new jobs or new land. New acts and tariffs were passed, adding taxes to foreign items. New methods of transportation were being examined. Participation in government rose as voting rights increased and decreased. The small country was being shown so much growth that it began to crave it. Out of this comes Manifest Destiny. As will soon be learned, it was just one of the goals of the US that was accomplished.
Before the 1800s, the best job out there was farming, and most goods were produced by hand. In walks the Industrial Revolution, and things begin to become easier. This new revolution began when a machine that could spend several threads at once was invented in 1764. The machine was named the Spinning Jenny. The Spinning Jenny was only one of the many inventions that transformed the textile industry. Major factories began developing in Britain. Capitalists, or people who pay for a business in order to make a profit, built factories and hired workers to run the machines. Workers would recieve an annual payment for working a certain amount of hours each day. Laws were passed to prevent information of the machines to leave Britain. But one man cheated the law. Americans were offering payments for any plans on the Britain machinery and factories. Daniel Slater memorized the plans of the factory where he worked, so the plans couldn't be found on him. He reached America and found a man who needed a mill fixed so it could work. He fixed it in 1793 and it became the first successful textile mill, powered by water. The next idea to reach Americans was interchangable parts. After a while of testing the use of interchangable parts, they were produced for clocks, locks, and other goods, including guns. The War of 1812 strongly influenced a boost in American idustries. Because of the British blockade, Americans had to start relying on themselves for most of their goods. A man named Francis Cabot Lowell improved the mills by combining spinning and weaving machinery. After his death, a factory town was created. Lowell, Massachusetts was created in 1821. It included over ten thousand people after only fifteen years. Young women and children were hired to work in factories, sending their wages to their families. Women and children were useful because they were paid half as much as men, and small children were able to squeeze around machines to change spindles. The Industrial Revolution began urbanization.
One of the major ideas in urbanization is population movement. A lot of this involved people leaving farms to work in factories. When cities began developing, Americans slowly left rural areas. It wasn't until around 1920 that over half of the US population lived in urban areas. Back in the 1800s, the attractions of cities were theaters, museums, circuses, and stores selling European goods. By the 1820s, so many people were moving west that the original thirteen states were beginning to decline.
Transportation was needed for population movement. Flat boats were used to transport animals and goods down rivers while travelling. Original roads didn't fit the most obvious needs. Most roads weren't even wide enough for a single wagon to travel! Private companies built gravel and stone roads. Companies collected tolls from travellers to pay for the roads. They were called turnpikes. Another type of road was the curdoroy road, which was made of lined up logs on swampy land. In 1818, The National Road was built, extending from Maryland to Virginia. It was later extended to Illinois. The idea of a steam-powered boat for travelling upstream was presented in 1787. The steamboats gave farmers a new and cheap way of transporting goods. A flat-bottom steamboat was also developed for transporting heavy loads in deep waters. The steam boats may not have been the best means of water-transportation. From 1811 to 1851, fourty-four steam boats collided, 166 steamboats burned, and over 200 exploded. Canals were also a part of transportation, and they helped farmers get items sent directly to the east.
As jobs increased and settlers were moving west, new territories were claimed by the nation and new states joined the union. From 1792 to 1819, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Alabama joined the union. The Indian Removal Act opened up more land for American citizens, especially in Georgia. In the early 1800s, the United States, Britain, and Russia claimed Oregon Country, the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. In 1818, the US and Britain agreed to have joint occupation of the area, splitting it into North and South. The first settlers were fur traders and mountain men. The fur trade had been successful for a time, but it started to die out in the 1830s. Beavers and other animals became scarce, and beaver hats went out of style. The mountain men began helping other settlers into the territory. Missionaries were the first official settlers into the Oregon Country. After Americans read reports sent by missionaries and more came to settle. From the 1840s to the 1860s, 50,000 Americans entered the Oregon Country. It didn't take long after 1840 for the Americans to begin wanting the territory to themselves. The Americans made a compromise with Britain. Oregon (1859), Washington (1889), and Idaho (1990) joined the union as states. Spain slowly let Americans enter and buy land in Texas. The original American settlers in Texas agreed to become Mexican citizens and worship in the Roman Catholic Church. Later settlers refused to do so. In 1830, Texas was barred from entrance by any more Americans. The US had already tried to purchase the area twice. After an unofficial war for independence, Texas recieved it. Texas went through some problems that led it to seek being annexed by the US. The United States first refused, but annexed Texas in 1845 after Sam Houston proposed the thought of aligning Texas with Britain. In te early 1840s, Mexico owned all of the New Mexico Territory. The Americans were never welcome into the territory when Spain had control over it. The territory included Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah, and Colorado. California was another matter, which the US continuously attempted to buy the land for its ports. During war with Mexicans, General Kearney was given the southern half of California. Northern California became independent. John C. Fremont helped Mexican troops out of the territory. By 1847, the US controlled all of California (annexed in 1850)and New Mexico. In 1848, it was made official that the territories were part of the US. The Gadsden Purchase was a strip of land between Arizona and New Mexico that was needed to build a railroad. It set the US back ten million dollars, but it fulfilled Manifest Destiny.
Starting in the Industrial Revolution, American goods were sold at higher prices to pay for factories. British goods were cheaper. The British were actually planning to put American factories out of business and then raising their prices. The Tariff of 1816 put a tax on British goods, making them more expensive than American goods and saving American businesses. Southerners, whom used British goods, argued that the tariff protected northerners and made them rich at southerners' expense. A later tariff were part of Henry Clay's American System. He had wanted the money from the tariff to be used to build roads in the south. Southerners complained that they didn't need roads when they had perfectly useful rivers. The tariff was passed but the money brought in was used on different things. Many things were happening outside of the US in the 1820s, including Central America declaring Independence from Spain. However, Spain still had claims over Florida, and the US wanted that land because it was a refuge for slaves. Jackson had asked that Spain destroy a fort that was a major living place for runaway slaves. Spain refused, so the US went in and did it themselves. Later, Jackson entered Florida again, with three thousand soldiers. Spain couldn't risk a war when they were busy fighting rebels in Latin America. The US bought Florida for five-million dollars. It was called th eAdams-Onis Treaty. Later, John Adams and James Monroe were worried about the actions of European powers. Britain was worried as well, and they offered to issue a combined statement between the two nations guaranteeing the freedom of the new nations of Latin America. Monroe worked independently, coming up with the Monroe Doctrine, which declared that the US would not interfere in European affairs. It also warned those nations not to attempt to regain control of the Latin America nations, and it said that the country would oppose any attempt to build new colonies. The most hated tariff ever was the Tariff of Abominations, which protected manufacturers from foreign competition. This tariff greatly hurt southerners. In 1830, Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Act which moved Native Americans westward. Eight years later, he moved the Cherokees out of Georgia using the American Army. Native Americans as well as some states were completely against moving the Indians from their home lands, but Jackson did it anyway. The Mexican War started because the two nations were arguing over who had control of the land between the Rio Grande and Neuces Rivers. Trrops clashed when Americans went to set up poles as a border. The war began. The Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty showed that the US paid fifteen-million dollars for the Mexica Cession, and they agreed to respect the rights of all Spanish-speaking people.
In the 1820s, more people were being given suffrage, or the right to vote, while others were being denied full participation in the growing democracy. Soon, any white male over the age of 21 could vote. Before 1828, the percentage of Americans who were voting was at 27%. In 1828, it was at 58%. In this year, the election was between Adams and Jackson. It was the first time that the politics of common people were considered important. It was also at this time that new political parties grew (out of the Admas and Jackson conflicts). Adams's supporters were called National Republicans or Whigs, and Jackson's supporters were called Democrats. The voting rate was at 80% in 1840. Women, Native Americans, slaves, and most African Americans had absolutly no voting priveleges. In New York, African Americans had to own property to vote. As suffrage was given to more whites, it was being taken away from most African Americans. A different kind of participation in government is the topic of the people who work for the government. When Jackson took office, her fired over 200 presidential appointees and other government workers and replaced them with his supporters. The spoils system was defined as the practice of rewarding supporters with government jobs. A good example of the president's participation in government involves Jackson vetoing a bill to renew the Bank of the US. He did so because he felt it was undemocratic because it was ran by private bankers. The 1830s brought on the nominating conventions that replaced private meetings for elections. In the conventions, delegates from all of the states chose their party's candidate. The conventions gave the people more influence in the nominating process and encouraged the citizens'participation in elections. The first-ever Vice President to step down from his position was Calhoun. He stepped down because the president did not respect his views of nullification, or the process of a state cancelling an unconstitutional. There were some issues with a Nullification Act that was passed later, and it was repealed.
There were things that slowed down expansion, of course. One of those things was the Panic of 1837. Speculator borrowed money from state banks to purchase land. Banks began printing more money than they had in gold or silver. Jackson ordered anyone buying land to do so in gold or silver. Banks closed when they ran out of gold and silver. Cotton prices went down because of a surplus. Planters could not repay any loans because the cotton was selling for so little. 90% of factories were sometimes closed. Hungry crowds stole food. The nation was in depression, and some thought the president was to blame. So, Mr. President cut down on government expenses and worked on a more stable banking system.
As Manifest Destiny was fulfilled, many people rushed to California to join in on the search for gold. Mexican words were added to the English language. Mormons found refuge in Utah. Women ran boarding houses, cleaned laundry, and sewed for miners in California. Crime increased and vigilanties went on their hunt. California's constitution was written in both English and Spanish (Mexican culture was preserved in the state).Mexican Americans and Native Americans were moved off thier lands and a lot were killed by starvation, disease, and murder. California had the richest African American population in the states.African Americans faced discrimination. Everything you have read fulfills Manifest Destiny. But what is Manifest Destiny? To Americans, it was the thought that expansion from one coast to another would open up great economic opportunities. The US expanded, through transportation, land, foreign affairs, inventions, jobs, and more. Each part of the expansion is like a new puzzle piece. And at the end of the American puzzle, at the end of the expansion, the image of American gratification appears... in the form of those two words... Manifest Destiny.
Expansion in Two Words
A Report by Timothy Cox
Around the early 1800s, the nation of the United States of America began expanding rapidly. Jobs increased. The population slowly began moving westward with each new addition to the US, whether it be new jobs or new land. New acts and tariffs were passed, adding taxes to foreign items. New methods of transportation were being examined. Participation in government rose as voting rights increased and decreased. The small country was being shown so much growth that it began to crave it. Out of this comes Manifest Destiny. As will soon be learned, it was just one of the goals of the US that was accomplished.
Before the 1800s, the best job out there was farming, and most goods were produced by hand. In walks the Industrial Revolution, and things begin to become easier. This new revolution began when a machine that could spend several threads at once was invented in 1764. The machine was named the Spinning Jenny. The Spinning Jenny was only one of the many inventions that transformed the textile industry. Major factories began developing in Britain. Capitalists, or people who pay for a business in order to make a profit, built factories and hired workers to run the machines. Workers would recieve an annual payment for working a certain amount of hours each day. Laws were passed to prevent information of the machines to leave Britain. But one man cheated the law. Americans were offering payments for any plans on the Britain machinery and factories. Daniel Slater memorized the plans of the factory where he worked, so the plans couldn't be found on him. He reached America and found a man who needed a mill fixed so it could work. He fixed it in 1793 and it became the first successful textile mill, powered by water. The next idea to reach Americans was interchangable parts. After a while of testing the use of interchangable parts, they were produced for clocks, locks, and other goods, including guns. The War of 1812 strongly influenced a boost in American idustries. Because of the British blockade, Americans had to start relying on themselves for most of their goods. A man named Francis Cabot Lowell improved the mills by combining spinning and weaving machinery. After his death, a factory town was created. Lowell, Massachusetts was created in 1821. It included over ten thousand people after only fifteen years. Young women and children were hired to work in factories, sending their wages to their families. Women and children were useful because they were paid half as much as men, and small children were able to squeeze around machines to change spindles. The Industrial Revolution began urbanization.
One of the major ideas in urbanization is population movement. A lot of this involved people leaving farms to work in factories. When cities began developing, Americans slowly left rural areas. It wasn't until around 1920 that over half of the US population lived in urban areas. Back in the 1800s, the attractions of cities were theaters, museums, circuses, and stores selling European goods. By the 1820s, so many people were moving west that the original thirteen states were beginning to decline.
Transportation was needed for population movement. Flat boats were used to transport animals and goods down rivers while travelling. Original roads didn't fit the most obvious needs. Most roads weren't even wide enough for a single wagon to travel! Private companies built gravel and stone roads. Companies collected tolls from travellers to pay for the roads. They were called turnpikes. Another type of road was the curdoroy road, which was made of lined up logs on swampy land. In 1818, The National Road was built, extending from Maryland to Virginia. It was later extended to Illinois. The idea of a steam-powered boat for travelling upstream was presented in 1787. The steamboats gave farmers a new and cheap way of transporting goods. A flat-bottom steamboat was also developed for transporting heavy loads in deep waters. The steam boats may not have been the best means of water-transportation. From 1811 to 1851, fourty-four steam boats collided, 166 steamboats burned, and over 200 exploded. Canals were also a part of transportation, and they helped farmers get items sent directly to the east.
As jobs increased and settlers were moving west, new territories were claimed by the nation and new states joined the union. From 1792 to 1819, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Alabama joined the union. The Indian Removal Act opened up more land for American citizens, especially in Georgia. In the early 1800s, the United States, Britain, and Russia claimed Oregon Country, the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. In 1818, the US and Britain agreed to have joint occupation of the area, splitting it into North and South. The first settlers were fur traders and mountain men. The fur trade had been successful for a time, but it started to die out in the 1830s. Beavers and other animals became scarce, and beaver hats went out of style. The mountain men began helping other settlers into the territory. Missionaries were the first official settlers into the Oregon Country. After Americans read reports sent by missionaries and more came to settle. From the 1840s to the 1860s, 50,000 Americans entered the Oregon Country. It didn't take long after 1840 for the Americans to begin wanting the territory to themselves. The Americans made a compromise with Britain. Oregon (1859), Washington (1889), and Idaho (1990) joined the union as states. Spain slowly let Americans enter and buy land in Texas. The original American settlers in Texas agreed to become Mexican citizens and worship in the Roman Catholic Church. Later settlers refused to do so. In 1830, Texas was barred from entrance by any more Americans. The US had already tried to purchase the area twice. After an unofficial war for independence, Texas recieved it. Texas went through some problems that led it to seek being annexed by the US. The United States first refused, but annexed Texas in 1845 after Sam Houston proposed the thought of aligning Texas with Britain. In te early 1840s, Mexico owned all of the New Mexico Territory. The Americans were never welcome into the territory when Spain had control over it. The territory included Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah, and Colorado. California was another matter, which the US continuously attempted to buy the land for its ports. During war with Mexicans, General Kearney was given the southern half of California. Northern California became independent. John C. Fremont helped Mexican troops out of the territory. By 1847, the US controlled all of California (annexed in 1850)and New Mexico. In 1848, it was made official that the territories were part of the US. The Gadsden Purchase was a strip of land between Arizona and New Mexico that was needed to build a railroad. It set the US back ten million dollars, but it fulfilled Manifest Destiny.
Starting in the Industrial Revolution, American goods were sold at higher prices to pay for factories. British goods were cheaper. The British were actually planning to put American factories out of business and then raising their prices. The Tariff of 1816 put a tax on British goods, making them more expensive than American goods and saving American businesses. Southerners, whom used British goods, argued that the tariff protected northerners and made them rich at southerners' expense. A later tariff were part of Henry Clay's American System. He had wanted the money from the tariff to be used to build roads in the south. Southerners complained that they didn't need roads when they had perfectly useful rivers. The tariff was passed but the money brought in was used on different things. Many things were happening outside of the US in the 1820s, including Central America declaring Independence from Spain. However, Spain still had claims over Florida, and the US wanted that land because it was a refuge for slaves. Jackson had asked that Spain destroy a fort that was a major living place for runaway slaves. Spain refused, so the US went in and did it themselves. Later, Jackson entered Florida again, with three thousand soldiers. Spain couldn't risk a war when they were busy fighting rebels in Latin America. The US bought Florida for five-million dollars. It was called th eAdams-Onis Treaty. Later, John Adams and James Monroe were worried about the actions of European powers. Britain was worried as well, and they offered to issue a combined statement between the two nations guaranteeing the freedom of the new nations of Latin America. Monroe worked independently, coming up with the Monroe Doctrine, which declared that the US would not interfere in European affairs. It also warned those nations not to attempt to regain control of the Latin America nations, and it said that the country would oppose any attempt to build new colonies. The most hated tariff ever was the Tariff of Abominations, which protected manufacturers from foreign competition. This tariff greatly hurt southerners. In 1830, Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Act which moved Native Americans westward. Eight years later, he moved the Cherokees out of Georgia using the American Army. Native Americans as well as some states were completely against moving the Indians from their home lands, but Jackson did it anyway. The Mexican War started because the two nations were arguing over who had control of the land between the Rio Grande and Neuces Rivers. Trrops clashed when Americans went to set up poles as a border. The war began. The Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty showed that the US paid fifteen-million dollars for the Mexica Cession, and they agreed to respect the rights of all Spanish-speaking people.
In the 1820s, more people were being given suffrage, or the right to vote, while others were being denied full participation in the growing democracy. Soon, any white male over the age of 21 could vote. Before 1828, the percentage of Americans who were voting was at 27%. In 1828, it was at 58%. In this year, the election was between Adams and Jackson. It was the first time that the politics of common people were considered important. It was also at this time that new political parties grew (out of the Admas and Jackson conflicts). Adams's supporters were called National Republicans or Whigs, and Jackson's supporters were called Democrats. The voting rate was at 80% in 1840. Women, Native Americans, slaves, and most African Americans had absolutly no voting priveleges. In New York, African Americans had to own property to vote. As suffrage was given to more whites, it was being taken away from most African Americans. A different kind of participation in government is the topic of the people who work for the government. When Jackson took office, her fired over 200 presidential appointees and other government workers and replaced them with his supporters. The spoils system was defined as the practice of rewarding supporters with government jobs. A good example of the president's participation in government involves Jackson vetoing a bill to renew the Bank of the US. He did so because he felt it was undemocratic because it was ran by private bankers. The 1830s brought on the nominating conventions that replaced private meetings for elections. In the conventions, delegates from all of the states chose their party's candidate. The conventions gave the people more influence in the nominating process and encouraged the citizens'participation in elections. The first-ever Vice President to step down from his position was Calhoun. He stepped down because the president did not respect his views of nullification, or the process of a state cancelling an unconstitutional. There were some issues with a Nullification Act that was passed later, and it was repealed.
There were things that slowed down expansion, of course. One of those things was the Panic of 1837. Speculator borrowed money from state banks to purchase land. Banks began printing more money than they had in gold or silver. Jackson ordered anyone buying land to do so in gold or silver. Banks closed when they ran out of gold and silver. Cotton prices went down because of a surplus. Planters could not repay any loans because the cotton was selling for so little. 90% of factories were sometimes closed. Hungry crowds stole food. The nation was in depression, and some thought the president was to blame. So, Mr. President cut down on government expenses and worked on a more stable banking system.
As Manifest Destiny was fulfilled, many people rushed to California to join in on the search for gold. Mexican words were added to the English language. Mormons found refuge in Utah. Women ran boarding houses, cleaned laundry, and sewed for miners in California. Crime increased and vigilanties went on their hunt. California's constitution was written in both English and Spanish (Mexican culture was preserved in the state).Mexican Americans and Native Americans were moved off thier lands and a lot were killed by starvation, disease, and murder. California had the richest African American population in the states.African Americans faced discrimination. Everything you have read fulfills Manifest Destiny. But what is Manifest Destiny? To Americans, it was the thought that expansion from one coast to another would open up great economic opportunities. The US expanded, through transportation, land, foreign affairs, inventions, jobs, and more. Each part of the expansion is like a new puzzle piece. And at the end of the American puzzle, at the end of the expansion, the image of American gratification appears... in the form of those two words... Manifest Destiny.