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| United States of America-the Flag |
The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (US), America or simply the States (Arabic: الولايات المتّحدة الأمريكيّة) (Urdu: ریاستہائے متحدہ امریکا) (Persian: ایالات متحده آمریکا), is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal district. The 48 contiguous states and the federal district of Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also has five populated and nine unpopulated territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean. At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) in total and with around 317 million people, the United States is the fourth-largest country by total area and third largest by population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The geography and climate of the United States is also extremely diverse, and it is home to a wide variety of wildlife.
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| Great Seal of the United States of America |
Paleo-indians migrated from Asia to what is now the U.S. mainland around 15,000 years ago, with European colonization beginning in the 16th century. The United States emerged from 13 British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. Disputes between Great Britain and these colonies led to the American Revolution. On July 4, 1776, delegates from the 13 colonies unanimously issued the Declaration of Independence. The ensuing war ended in 1783 with the recognition of independence of the United States from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and was the first successful war of independence against a European colonial empire. The current Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787. The first 10 amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and guarantee many fundamental civil rights and freedoms.
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| Spanish-American war in Manila |
Driven by the doctrine of manifest destiny, the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century. This involved displacing native tribes, acquiring new territories, and gradually admitting new states. The American Civil War ended legal slavery in the country. By the end of the 19th century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy was the world's largest. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country with nuclear weapons, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower.
The United States is a developed country and has the world's largest national economy, with an estimated GDP in 2013 of $16.7 trillion – 23% of global nominal GDP and 19% at purchasing-power parity.
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| 16% of American Population lives in poverty |
The economy is fueled by an abundance of natural resources and the world's highest worker productivity, with per capita GDP being the world's sixth-highest in 2010. While the U.S. economy is considered post-industrial, it continues to be one of the world's largest manufacturers. The U.S. has the highest mean and second-highest median household income in the OECD as well as the highest average wage, though it has the fourth most unequal income distribution among OECD nations with roughly 16% of the population living in poverty. The country accounts for 39% of global military spending, being the world's foremost economic and military power, a prominent political and cultural force, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovation.
Etymology:
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (Latin: Americus Vespucius). The first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq., George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army. Addressed to Lt. Col. Joseph Reed, Moylan expressed his wish to carry the "full and ample powers of the United States of America" to Spain to assist in the revolutionary war effort.
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| United States of America first published in The Verginia Gazette in 1776 |
The first publicly published evidence of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymously written essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson included the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence. In the final Fourth of July version of the Declaration, the pertinent section of the title was changed to read, "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America". In 1777 the Articles of Confederation announced, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America'".
The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms include the "U.S.", the "USA", and "America". Colloquial names include the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a name popular in poetry and songs of the late 1700s, derives its origin from Christopher Columbus; it appears in the name "District of Columbia". In non-English languages, the name is frequently translated as the translation of either the "United States" or "United States of America", and colloquially as "America". In addition, an acronym is sometimes used.
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| James Mitchell Ashley proposed 13th Amendment |
The phrase "United States" was originally treated as plural, a description of a collection of independent states—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. It became common to treat it as singular, a single unit—e.g., "the United States is"—after the end of the Civil War.
The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States". The difference has been described as more significant than one of usage, but reflecting the difference between a collection of states and a unit.
The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an "American". "United States", "American" and "U.S." are used to refer to the country adjectivally ("American values", "U.S. forces").
"American" is rarely used in English to refer to subjects not connected with the United States.
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| Christopher Columbus |
History of the United States:
The history of the United States as covered in American schools and universities typically begins with either Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage to the Americas or with the prehistory of the Native peoples; the latter approach has become increasingly common in recent decades.
Indigenous peoples lived in what is now the United States for thousands of years and developed complex cultures before European colonists began to arrive, mostly from England, after 1600.
The Spanish had early settlements in Florida and the Southwest, and the French along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. By the 1770s, thirteen British colonies contained two and a half million people along the Atlantic coast, east of the Appalachian Mountains.
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| US Declaration of Independence |
After driving the French out of North America in 1763, the British imposed a series of new taxes while rejecting the American argument that taxes required representation in Parliament. Tax resistance, especially the Boston Tea Party of 1774, led to punishment by Parliament designed to end self-government in Massachusetts. All 13 colonies united in a Congress that led to armed conflict in April 1775. On July 4, 1776, the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson, proclaimed that all men are created equal, and founded a new nation, the United States of America.
With large-scale military and financial support from France and military leadership by General George Washington, the American Patriots won the Revolutionary War. The peace treaty of 1783 gave the new nation most of the land east of the Mississippi River (except Florida).
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| War of 1912 is the last fight between US and England |
The national government established by the Articles of Confederation proved ineffectual at providing stability to the new nation, as it had no authority to collect taxes and had no executive. A convention called in Philadelphia in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation instead resulted in the writing of a new Constitution, which was adopted in 1789. In 1791 a Bill of Rights was added to guarantee rights that justified the Revolution. With George Washington as the nation's first president and Alexander Hamilton his chief political and financial adviser, a strong national government was created. When Thomas Jefferson became president he purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, doubling the size of American territorial holdings. A second and last war with Britain was fought in 1812.
Driven by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the nation expanded beyond the Louisiana purchase, all the way to California and Oregon. The expansion was driven by a quest for inexpensive land for yeoman farmers and slave owners. This expansion came at the cost of violence against indigenous native peoples and fueled the unresolved differences between the North and South over the institution of slavery.
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| Jacob M. Howard contributed in 14th Amendment in US constitution |
Slavery was abolished in all states north of the Mason–Dixon line by 1804, but the South continued to profit off the institution, producing cotton exports to feed high demand in Europe. The 1860 presidential election of anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln triggered the secession of seven (later eleven) slave states to found the Confederacy in 1861. The American Civil War (1861-1865) ensued, with the victory of the Union and the abolition of slavery. In the Reconstruction era (1863–77) legal and voting rights were extended to the Freedmen. The national government emerged much stronger, and because of the Fourteenth Amendment, it had the explicit duty to protect individual rights. However, legal racial discrimination in the form of Jim Crow laws continued in the South until the mid-20th century.
The United States became the world's leading industrial power at the turn of the 20th century due to an outburst of entrepreneurship in the North And Midwest, and the arrival of millions of immigrant workers and farmers from Europe.
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| Wall Street Crash of 1929 |
The national railroad network was completed with the work of Chinese immigrants, and large-scale mining and factories industrialized the Northeast and Midwest. Mass dissatisfaction with corruption, inefficiency and traditional politics stimulated the Progressive movement, from the 1890s to 1920s, which led to many social and political reforms. In 1920 the 19th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed women's suffrage (right to vote). This followed the 16th and 17th amendments in 1909 and 1912, which established the first national income tax and direct election of U.S. senators to Congress.
Initially neutral in World War I, the U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917, and funded the Allied victory the following year. After a prosperous decade in the 1920s, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 marked the onset of the decade-long world-wide Great Depression.
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| Pearl Harbor Attacks led to the first Atomic Attacks |
Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the Republican dominance of the White House and implemented his New Deal programs for relief, recovery, and reform. They defined modern American liberalism. These included relief for the unemployed, support for farmers, Social Security and a minimum wage. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States entered World War II alongside the Allies especially Britain and the Soviet Union. It financed the Allied war effort and helped defeat Nazi Germany in Europe and, with the detonation of newly invented atomic bombs, Japan in the Far East.
The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as rival superpowers after World War II. Around 1947 they began the Cold War, confronting one another indirectly in the arms race and Space Race. U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War was built around the support of Western Europe and Japan, and the policy of "containment" or stopping the spread of Communism.
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| US was disturbed by the world wide recession of 2007-09 |
The U.S. became involved in wars in Korea and Vietnam to stop the spread. In the 1960s, especially due to the strength of the civil rights movement, another wave of social reforms were enacted during the administrations of Kennedy and Johnson, enforcing the constitutional rights of voting and freedom of movement to African Americans and other minorities. Native American activism also rose. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, leaving the United States the world's only superpower. As the 21st century began, international conflict centered around the Middle East and spread to Asia and Africa following the September 11 attacks by Al-Qaeda on the United States. In 2008 the United States had its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, which has been followed by slower than usual rates of economic growth during the 2010s.
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| people migrated from Siberia to Alaska across Beringia |
Prehistory
Pre-Columbian Era
It
is not definitively known how or when the Native Americans first
settled the Americas and the present-day United States. The prevailing
theory proposes that people migrated from Eurasia across Beringia, a
land bridge that connected Siberia to present-day Alaska during the Ice
Age, and then spread southward throughout the Americas and possibly
going as far south as the Antarctic peninsula. This migration may have
begun as early as 30,000 years ago and continued through to about
10,000+ years ago, when the land bridge became submerged by the rising
sea level caused by the ending of the last glacial period. These early
inhabitants, called Paleoamericans, soon diversified into many hundreds
of culturally distinct nations and tribes.
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| Indigenous People of the Americas |
The pre-Columbian
era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory
of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences
on the American continents, spanning the time of the original
settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization
during the Early Modern period. While technically referring to the era
before Christopher Columbus' voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the
term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until
they were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if
this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial
landing.
Colonial Period
After
a period of exploration sponsored by major European nations, the first
successful English settlement was established in 1607. Europeans brought
horses, cattle, and hogs to the Americas and, in turn, took back to
Europe maize, turkeys, potatoes, tobacco, beans, and squash.
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| Francisco Vasquez de Coronado |
Many explorers and
early settlers died after being exposed to new diseases in the Americas.
The effects of new Eurasian diseases carried by the colonists,
especially smallpox and measles, was much worse for the Native
Americans, as they had no immunity to them. They suffered epidemics and
died in very large numbers, usually before large-scale European
settlement began. Their societies were disrupted and hollowed out by the
scale of deaths.
Spanish, Dutch, and French Colonization
Spanish
explorers were the first Europeans with Christopher Columbus' second
expedition, which reached Puerto Rico on November 19, 1493; others
reached Florida in 1513. Quickly Spanish expeditions reached the
Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the
Great Plains. In 1540, Hernando de Soto undertook an extensive
exploration of Southeast. Also in 1540 Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
explored from Arizona to central Kansas.
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| San Antonio Skyline |
The Spanish sent
some settlers, creating the first permanent European settlement in the
continental United States at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, but it
attracted few permanent settlers. Small Spanish settlements that after
American annexation grew to become important cities include Santa Fe,
Albuquerque, San Antonio, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara
and San Francisco.
New
Netherland was the 17th-century Dutch colony centered on present-day
New York City and the Hudson River Valley, where they traded furs with
the Native Americans to the north and were a barrier to Yankee expansion
from New England. The Dutch were Calvinists who built the Reformed
Church in America, but they were tolerant of other religions and
cultures. The colony was taken over by Britain in 1664. It left an
enduring legacy on American cultural and political life, including a
secular broadmindedness and mercantile pragmatism in the city, and a
rural traditionalism in the countryside typified by the story of Rip Van
Winkle. Notable Americans of Dutch descent include Martin Van Buren,
Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Frelinghuysens.
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| New France was colonized by France from 1534-1763 |
New France was the
area colonized by France from 1534 to 1763. There were few permanent
settlers outside Quebec and Acadia, but the French had far-reaching
trading relationships with Native Americans throughout the Great Lakes
and Midwest. French villages along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers
were based in farming communities that served as a granary for Gulf
Coast settlements. The French settled New Orleans, Mobile and Biloxi,
and established plantations in Louisiana.
The
Wabanaki Confederacy became military allies of New France through the
four French and Indian Wars, while the British colonies were allied with
the Iroquois Confederacy. During the French and Indian War, the North
American front of the Seven Years War, New England fought successfully
against French Acadia. The British removed Acadians from Acadia (Nova
Scotia) and replaced them with New England Planters. Eventually, some
Acadians resettled in Louisiana, where they developed a distinctive
rural Cajun culture that still exists. They became American citizens in
1803 with the Louisiana Purchase.
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| New Orleans was notable for its free people of color |
Other French
villages along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers were absorbed when
the Americans started arriving after 1770, or settlers moved west to
escape them. French influence and language in New Orleans, Louisiana and
the Gulf Coast was more enduring; New Orleans was notable for its large
population of free people of color before the Civil War.
British Colonization
The
strip of land along the eastern seacoast was settled primarily by
English colonists in the 17th century, along with much smaller numbers
of Dutch and Swedes. Colonial America was defined by a severe labor
shortage that employed forms of unfree labor such as slavery and
indentured servitude, and by a British policy of benign neglect
(salutary neglect) that permitted the development of an American spirit
distinct from that of its European founders. Over half of all European
immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants.
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| The 1st successful English colony was at Jamestown |
The first
successful English colony was established in 1607, on the James River at
Jamestown which began the American Frontier. It languished for decades
until a new wave of settlers arrived in the late 17th century and
established commercial agriculture based on tobacco. Between the late
1610s and the Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000
convicts to their American colonies. A severe instance of conflict was
the 1622 Powhatan uprising in Virginia, in which Native Americans killed
hundreds of English settlers. The largest conflict between Native
Americans and English settlers in the 17th century was King Philip's War
in New England; The Yamasee War in South Carolina was as bloody.
New
England was initially settled primarily by Puritans who established the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, although there was a small earlier
settlement in 1620 by a similar group, the Pilgrims, at Plymouth Colony.
The Middle Colonies, consisting of the present-day states of New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, were characterized by a large
degree of diversity. The first attempted English settlement south of
Virginia was the Province of Carolina, with Georgia Colony the last of
the Thirteen Colonies established in 1733.
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| Jonathan Edwards is American Religious revivalist |
The colonies were
characterized by religious diversity, with many Congregationalists in
New England, German and Dutch Reformed in the Middle Colonies, Catholics
in Maryland, and Scots-Irish Presbyterians on the frontier. Sephardic
Jews were among early settlers in cities of New England and the South.
Many immigrants arrived as religious refugees: French Huguenots settled
in New York, Virginia and the Carolinas. Many royal officials and
merchants were Anglicans.
Religiosity
expanded greatly after the First Great Awakening, a religious revival
in the 1740s led by preachers such as Jonathan Edwards. American
Evangelicals affected by the Awakening added a new emphasis on divine
outpourings of the Holy Spirit and conversions that implanted within new
believers an intense love for God. Revivals encapsulated those
hallmarks and carried the newly created evangelicalism into the early
republic, setting the stage for the Second Great Awakening beginning in
the late 1790s. In the early stages, evangelicals in the South such as
Methodists and Baptists preached for religious freedom and abolition of
slavery; they converted many slaves and recognized some as preachers.
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| Slaves were the 5th of American Population in 1770s |
Each of the 13
American colonies had a slightly different governmental structure.
Typically a colony was ruled by a governor appointed from London who
controlled the executive administration and relied upon a locally
elected legislature to vote taxes and make laws. By the 18th century,
the American colonies were growing very rapidly because of ample
supplies of land and food, and low death rates. They were richer than
most parts of Britain, and attracted a steady flow of immigrants,
especially teenagers who came as indentured servants. The tobacco and
rice plantations imported African slaves for labor from the British
colonies in the West Indies, and by the 1770s they comprised a fifth of
the American population. The question of independence from Britain did
not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support
against the French and Spanish powers; those threats were gone by 1765.
London regarded the American colonies as existing for the benefit of the
mother country, a policy known as mercantilism.
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| Join of Die by Benjamin Franklin |
18th Century
Political Integration and Autonomy
The
French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a watershed event in the
political development of the colonies. It was also part of the larger
Seven Years' War. The influence of the main rivals of the British Crown
in the colonies and Canada, the French and North American Indians, was
significantly reduced which U.S territory expanded into New France that
was between the Thirteen Colonies and Louisiana. Moreover, the war
effort resulted in greater political integration of the colonies, as
reflected in the Albany Congress and symbolized by Benjamin Franklin's
call for the colonies to "Join or Die". Franklin was a man of many
inventions-one of which was the concept of a United States of America,
which emerged after 1765 and was realized in July 1776.
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| Boston Tea Party is a turning point of American history |
Following Britain's
acquisition of French territory in North America, King George III
issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 with the goal of organizing the
new North American empire and protecting the native Indians from
colonial expansion into western lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
In ensuing years, strains developed in the relations between the
colonists and the Crown. The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act of
1765, imposing a tax on the colonies without going through the colonial
legislatures. The issue was drawn: did Parliament have this right to tax
Americans who were not represented in it? Crying "No taxation without
representation", the colonists refused to pay the taxes as tensions
escalated in the late 1760s and early 1770s.
The
Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a direct action by activists in the town
of Boston to protest against the new tax on tea. Parliament quickly
responded the next year with the Coercive Acts, stripping Massachusetts
of its historic right of self-government and putting it under army rule,
which sparked outrage and resistance in all thirteen colonies.
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| First Continental Congress was held in 1774 |
Patriot leaders
from all 13 colonies convened the First Continental Congress to
coordinate their resistance to the Coercive Acts. The Congress called
for a boycott of British trade, published a list of rights and
grievances, and petitioned the king for redress of those grievances. The
appeal to the Crown had no effect, and so the Second Continental
Congress was convened in 1775 to organize the defense of the colonies
against the British Army.
Ordinary
folk became insurgents against the British even though they were
unfamiliar with the ideological rationales being offered. They held very
strongly a sense of ”rights” that they felt the British were
deliberately violating – rights that stressed local autonomy, fair
dealing, and government by consent. They were highly sensitive to the
issue of tyranny, which they saw manifested in the arrival in Boston of
the British Army to punish the Bostonians. This heightened their sense
of violated rights, leading to rage and demands for revenge. They had
faith that God was on their side.
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| American Revolutionary War |
The American
Revolutionary War began at Concord and Lexington in April 1775 when the
British tried to seize ammunition supplies and arrest the Patriot
leaders.
American Revolution
The
Thirteen Colonies began a rebellion against British rule in 1775 and
proclaimed their independence in 1776 as the United States of America.
In the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) the American capture of
the British invasion army at Saratoga in 1777 secured the Northeast and
encouraged the French to make a military alliance with the United
States. France brought in Spain and the Netherlands, thus balancing the
military and naval forces on each side as Britain had no allies.
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| Surrender of British General J. Burgoyne at Saratoga |
General George
Washington (1732–1799) proved an excellent organizer and administrator,
who worked successfully with Congress and the state governors, selecting
and mentoring his senior officers, supporting and training his troops,
and maintaining an idealistic Republican Army. His biggest challenge was
logistics, since neither Congress nor the states had the funding to
provide adequately for the equipment, munitions, clothing, paychecks, or
even the food supply of the soldiers.
As
a battlefield tactician Washington was often outmaneuvered by his
British counterparts. As a strategist, however, he had a better idea of
how to win the war than they did. The British sent four invasion armies.
Washington's strategy forced the first army out of Boston in 1776, and
was responsible for the surrender of the second and third armies at
Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781). He limited the British control to
New York City and a few places while keeping Patriot control of the
great majority of the population.
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| US Declaration of Independence was signed in 2nd Continental Congress in 1776 |
The Loyalists, whom
the British counted upon too heavily, comprised about 20% of the
population but never were well organized. As the war ended, Washington
watched proudly as the final British army quietly sailed out of New York
City in November 1783, taking the Loyalist leadership with them.
Washington astonished the world when, instead of seizing power for
himself, he retired quietly to his farm in Virginia. Political scientist
Seymour Martin Lipset observes, "The United States was the first major
colony successfully to revolt against colonial rule. In this sense, it
was the first 'new nation'."
On
July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia,
declared the independence of "the United States of America" in the
Declaration of Independence. July 4 is celebrated as the nation's
birthday. The new nation was founded on Enlightenment ideals of
liberalism in what Thomas Jefferson called the unalienable rights to
"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", and dedicated strongly to
republican principles. Republicanism emphasized the people are sovereign
(not hereditary kings), demanded civic duty, feared corruption, and
rejected any aristocracy.
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| US Constitution was signed in Philadelphia Convention in 1987 |
Early Years of the Republic
Confederation and Constitution
In the 1780s the national government was able to settle the issue of the western territories, which were ceded by the states to Congress and became territories; with the migration of settlers to the Northwest, soon they became states. Nationalists worried that the new nation was too fragile to withstand an international war, or even internal revolts such as the Shays' Rebellion of 1786 in Massachusetts. Nationalists—most of them war veterans—organized in every state and convinced Congress to call the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. The delegates from every state wrote a new Constitution that created a much more powerful and efficient central government, one with a strong president, and powers of taxation. The new government reflected the prevailing republican ideals of guarantees of individual liberty and of constraining the power of government through a system of separation of powers.
Confederation and Constitution
In the 1780s the national government was able to settle the issue of the western territories, which were ceded by the states to Congress and became territories; with the migration of settlers to the Northwest, soon they became states. Nationalists worried that the new nation was too fragile to withstand an international war, or even internal revolts such as the Shays' Rebellion of 1786 in Massachusetts. Nationalists—most of them war veterans—organized in every state and convinced Congress to call the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. The delegates from every state wrote a new Constitution that created a much more powerful and efficient central government, one with a strong president, and powers of taxation. The new government reflected the prevailing republican ideals of guarantees of individual liberty and of constraining the power of government through a system of separation of powers.
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| James Madison was the 1st author of Bill of Rights |
The Congress was
given authority to ban the international slave trade after 20 years
(which it did in 1807). A compromise gave the South Congressional
apportionment out of proportion to its free population by allowing it to
include three-fifths of the number of slaves in each state's total
population. This provision increased the political power of southern
representatives in Congress, especially as slavery was extended into the
Deep South through removal of Native Americans and transportation of
slaves by an extensive domestic trade.
To assuage the Anti-Federalists who feared a too-powerful national government, the nation adopted the United States Bill of Rights in 1791. Comprising the first ten amendments of the Constitution, it guaranteed individual liberties such as freedom of speech and religious practice, jury trials, and stated that citizens and states had reserved rights (which were not specified).
To assuage the Anti-Federalists who feared a too-powerful national government, the nation adopted the United States Bill of Rights in 1791. Comprising the first ten amendments of the Constitution, it guaranteed individual liberties such as freedom of speech and religious practice, jury trials, and stated that citizens and states had reserved rights (which were not specified).
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| George Washington, the 1st US President |
The New Chief Executive
George Washington — a renowned hero of the American Revolutionary War, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and president of the Constitutional Convention—became the first President of the United States under the new Constitution in 1789. The national capital moved from New York to Philadelphia and finally settled in Washington DC in 1800.
The major accomplishments of the Washington Administration were creating a strong national government that was recognized without question by all Americans. His government, following the vigorous leadership of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, assumed the debts of the states (the debt holders received federal bonds), created the Bank of the United States to stabilize the financial system, and set up a uniform system of tariffs (taxes on imports) and other taxes to pay off the debt and provide a financial infrastructure. To support his programs Hamilton created a new political party—the first in the world based on voters—the Federalist Party.
George Washington — a renowned hero of the American Revolutionary War, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and president of the Constitutional Convention—became the first President of the United States under the new Constitution in 1789. The national capital moved from New York to Philadelphia and finally settled in Washington DC in 1800.
The major accomplishments of the Washington Administration were creating a strong national government that was recognized without question by all Americans. His government, following the vigorous leadership of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, assumed the debts of the states (the debt holders received federal bonds), created the Bank of the United States to stabilize the financial system, and set up a uniform system of tariffs (taxes on imports) and other taxes to pay off the debt and provide a financial infrastructure. To support his programs Hamilton created a new political party—the first in the world based on voters—the Federalist Party.
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| The Whiskey Rebellion was 1st serious test of Federal Govt |
Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison formed an opposition Republican Party (usually called
the Democratic-Republican Party by political scientists). Hamilton and
Washington presented the country in 1794 with the Jay Treaty that
reestablished good relations with Britain. The Jeffersonians vehemently
protested, and the voters aligned behind one party or the other, thus
setting up the First Party System. Federalists promoted business,
financial and commercial interests and wanted more trade with Britain.
Republicans accused the Federalists of plans to establish a monarchy,
turn the rich into a ruling class, and making the United States a pawn
of the British. The treaty passed, but politics became intensely heated.
The Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, when western settlers protested against a federal tax on liquor, was the first serious test of the federal government. Washington called out the state militia and personally led an army, as the insurgents melted away and the power of the national government was firmly established.
The Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, when western settlers protested against a federal tax on liquor, was the first serious test of the federal government. Washington called out the state militia and personally led an army, as the insurgents melted away and the power of the national government was firmly established.
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| John Adams became 2nd President of America |
Washington refused
to serve more than two terms—setting a precedent that is followed till
date, that no president of America, who serves the office for two terms,
competes for third term and this principle is followed in many other
countries including Iran—and in his famous farewell address, he extolled
the benefits of federal government and importance of ethics and
morality while warning against foreign alliances and the formation of
political parties.
John Adams, a Federalist, defeated Jefferson in the 1796 election. War loomed with France and the Federalists used the opportunity to try to silence the Republicans with the Alien and Sedition Acts, build up a large army with Hamilton at the head, and prepare for a French invasion.
However, the Federalists became divided after Adams sent a successful peace mission to France that ended the Quasi-War of 1798.
John Adams, a Federalist, defeated Jefferson in the 1796 election. War loomed with France and the Federalists used the opportunity to try to silence the Republicans with the Alien and Sedition Acts, build up a large army with Hamilton at the head, and prepare for a French invasion.
However, the Federalists became divided after Adams sent a successful peace mission to France that ended the Quasi-War of 1798.
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| Slavery was very common in Americas |
Slavery
During the first two decades after the Revolutionary War, there were dramatic changes in the status of slavery among the states and an increase in the number of freed blacks. Inspired by revolutionary ideals of the equality of men and their lesser economic reliance on it, northern states abolished slavery, although some had gradual emancipation schemes. States of the Upper South made manumission easier, resulting in an increase in the proportion of free blacks in the Upper South from less than one percent in 1792 to more than 10 percent by 1810. By that date, a total of 13.5 percent of all blacks in the United States were free. After that date, with the demand for slaves on the rise with the development of the Deep South for cotton cultivation, the rate of manumissions declined sharply, and an internal slave trade became an important source of wealth for many planters and traders.
During the first two decades after the Revolutionary War, there were dramatic changes in the status of slavery among the states and an increase in the number of freed blacks. Inspired by revolutionary ideals of the equality of men and their lesser economic reliance on it, northern states abolished slavery, although some had gradual emancipation schemes. States of the Upper South made manumission easier, resulting in an increase in the proportion of free blacks in the Upper South from less than one percent in 1792 to more than 10 percent by 1810. By that date, a total of 13.5 percent of all blacks in the United States were free. After that date, with the demand for slaves on the rise with the development of the Deep South for cotton cultivation, the rate of manumissions declined sharply, and an internal slave trade became an important source of wealth for many planters and traders.
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| Marbury v. Madison, a leading case on US constitutional history |
19th Century
Jeffersonian Republican Era
Thomas Jefferson defeated Adams for the presidency in the 1800 election. Jefferson's major achievement as president was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which provided U.S. settlers with vast potential for expansion west of the Mississippi River. Jefferson, a scientist himself, supported expeditions to explore and map the new domain, most notably the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jefferson believed deeply in republicanism and argued it should be based on the independent yeoman farmer and planter; he distrusted cities, factories and banks. He also distrusted the federal government and judges, and tried to weaken the judiciary. However he met his match in John Marshall, a Federalist from Virginia. Although the Constitution specified a Supreme Court, its functions were vague until Marshall, the Chief Justice (1801–35), defined them, especially the power to overturn acts of Congress or states that violated the Constitution, first enunciated in 1803 in Marbury v. Madison.
Jeffersonian Republican Era
Thomas Jefferson defeated Adams for the presidency in the 1800 election. Jefferson's major achievement as president was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which provided U.S. settlers with vast potential for expansion west of the Mississippi River. Jefferson, a scientist himself, supported expeditions to explore and map the new domain, most notably the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jefferson believed deeply in republicanism and argued it should be based on the independent yeoman farmer and planter; he distrusted cities, factories and banks. He also distrusted the federal government and judges, and tried to weaken the judiciary. However he met his match in John Marshall, a Federalist from Virginia. Although the Constitution specified a Supreme Court, its functions were vague until Marshall, the Chief Justice (1801–35), defined them, especially the power to overturn acts of Congress or states that violated the Constitution, first enunciated in 1803 in Marbury v. Madison.
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| American Infantry attacks the Lundry's Lane- War of 1912 |
War of 1812
Americans were increasingly angry at the British violation of American ships' neutral rights in order to hurt France, the impressment (seizure) of 10,000 American sailors needed by the Royal Navy to fight Napoleon, and British support for hostile Indians attacking American settlers in the Midwest. They may also have desired to annex all or part of British North America. Despite strong opposition from the Northeast, especially from Federalists who did not want to disrupt trade with Britain, Congress declared war in June 18, 1812. The war was frustrating for both sides. Both sides tried to invade the other and were repulsed. The American high command remained incompetent until the last year. The American militia proved ineffective because the soldiers were reluctant to leave home and efforts to invade Canada repeatedly failed.
Americans were increasingly angry at the British violation of American ships' neutral rights in order to hurt France, the impressment (seizure) of 10,000 American sailors needed by the Royal Navy to fight Napoleon, and British support for hostile Indians attacking American settlers in the Midwest. They may also have desired to annex all or part of British North America. Despite strong opposition from the Northeast, especially from Federalists who did not want to disrupt trade with Britain, Congress declared war in June 18, 1812. The war was frustrating for both sides. Both sides tried to invade the other and were repulsed. The American high command remained incompetent until the last year. The American militia proved ineffective because the soldiers were reluctant to leave home and efforts to invade Canada repeatedly failed.
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| The Battle of New Orleans- War of 1912 |
The British
blockade ruined American commerce, bankrupted the Treasury, and further
angered New Englanders, who smuggled supplies to Britain. The Americans
under General William Henry Harrison finally gained naval control of
Lake Erie and defeated the Indians under Tecumseh in Canada, while
Andrew Jackson ended the Indian threat in the Southeast. The Indian
threat to expansion into the Midwest was permanently ended. The British
invaded and occupied much of Maine.
The British raided and burned Washington, but were repelled at Baltimore
in 1814—where the "Star Spangled Banner" was written to celebrate the
American success. In upstate New York a major British invasion of New
York State was turned back.
Finally in early 1815 Andrew Jackson decisively defeated a major British invasion at the Battle of New Orleans, making him the most famous war hero.
Finally in early 1815 Andrew Jackson decisively defeated a major British invasion at the Battle of New Orleans, making him the most famous war hero.
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| The signing of peace treaty between US and UK |
With Napoleon
(apparently) gone, the causes of the war had evaporated and both sides
agreed to a peace that left the prewar boundaries intact. Americans
claimed victory in February 18, 1815 as news came almost simultaneously
of Jackson's victory of New Orleans and the peace treaty that left the
prewar boundaries in place. Americans swelled with pride at success in
the "second war of independence"; the naysayers of the antiwar
Federalist Party were put to shame and it never recovered. The Indians
were the big losers; they never gained the independent nationhood
Britain had promised and no longer posed a serious threat as settlers
poured into the Midwest.
Era of Good Feelings
As strong opponents of the war, the Federalists held the Hartford Convention in 1814 that hinted at disunion. National euphoria after the victory at New Orleans ruined the prestige of the Federalists and they no longer played a significant role. President Madison and most Republicans realized they were foolish to let the Bank of the United States close down, for its absence greatly hindered the financing of the war. So they chartered the Second Bank of the United States in 1816.
Era of Good Feelings
As strong opponents of the war, the Federalists held the Hartford Convention in 1814 that hinted at disunion. National euphoria after the victory at New Orleans ruined the prestige of the Federalists and they no longer played a significant role. President Madison and most Republicans realized they were foolish to let the Bank of the United States close down, for its absence greatly hindered the financing of the war. So they chartered the Second Bank of the United States in 1816.
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| James Monroe, the last president from founding fathers of America |
The Republicans
also imposed tariffs designed to protect the infant industries that had
been created when Britain was blockading the U.S. With the collapse of
the Federalists as a party, the adoption of many Federalist principles
by the Republicans, and the systematic policy of President James Monroe
in his two terms (1817–25) to downplay partisanship, the nation entered
an Era of Good Feelings, with far less partisanship than before (or
after), and closed out the First Party System.
The Monroe Doctrine, expressed in 1823, proclaimed the United States' opinion that European powers should no longer colonize or interfere in the Americas. This was a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States.
The Monroe Doctrine was adopted in response to American and British fears over Russian and French expansion into the Western Hemisphere.
The Monroe Doctrine, expressed in 1823, proclaimed the United States' opinion that European powers should no longer colonize or interfere in the Americas. This was a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States.
The Monroe Doctrine was adopted in response to American and British fears over Russian and French expansion into the Western Hemisphere.
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| Settlers crossing the Plains of Nebraska |
Indian removal
In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to negotiate treaties that exchanged Native American tribal lands in the eastern states for lands west of the Mississippi River. Its goal was primarily to remove Native Americans, including the Five Civilized Tribes, from the American Southeast; they occupied land that settlers wanted. Jacksonian Democrats demanded the forcible removal of native populations who refused to acknowledge state laws to reservations in the West; Whigs and religious leaders opposed the move as inhumane. Thousands of deaths resulted from the relocations, as seen in the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Many of the Seminole Indians in Florida refused to move west; they fought the Army for years in the Seminole Wars.
In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to negotiate treaties that exchanged Native American tribal lands in the eastern states for lands west of the Mississippi River. Its goal was primarily to remove Native Americans, including the Five Civilized Tribes, from the American Southeast; they occupied land that settlers wanted. Jacksonian Democrats demanded the forcible removal of native populations who refused to acknowledge state laws to reservations in the West; Whigs and religious leaders opposed the move as inhumane. Thousands of deaths resulted from the relocations, as seen in the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Many of the Seminole Indians in Florida refused to move west; they fought the Army for years in the Seminole Wars.
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| Methodist revival in USA 1839, watercolor second great awakening |
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant revival movement that affected the entire nation during the early 19th century and led to rapid church growth. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800, and, after 1820 membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations, whose preachers led the movement. It was past its peak by the 1840s.
It enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and led to the formation of new denominations. Many converts believed that the Awakening heralded a new millennial age. The Second Great Awakening stimulated the establishment of many reform movements—including abolitionism and temperance designed to remove the evils of society before the anticipated Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant revival movement that affected the entire nation during the early 19th century and led to rapid church growth. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800, and, after 1820 membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations, whose preachers led the movement. It was past its peak by the 1840s.
It enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and led to the formation of new denominations. Many converts believed that the Awakening heralded a new millennial age. The Second Great Awakening stimulated the establishment of many reform movements—including abolitionism and temperance designed to remove the evils of society before the anticipated Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
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| William Lloyd Garrison |
Abolitionism
After 1840 the growing abolitionist movement redefined itself as a crusade against the sin of slave ownership. It mobilized support (especially among religious women in the Northeast affected by the Second Great Awakening). William Lloyd Garrison published the most influential of the many anti-slavery newspapers, The Liberator, while Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave, began writing for that newspaper around 1840 and started his own abolitionist newspaper North Star in 1847. The great majority of anti-slavery activists, such as Abraham Lincoln, rejected Garrison's theology and held that slavery was an unfortunate social evil, not a sin.
After 1840 the growing abolitionist movement redefined itself as a crusade against the sin of slave ownership. It mobilized support (especially among religious women in the Northeast affected by the Second Great Awakening). William Lloyd Garrison published the most influential of the many anti-slavery newspapers, The Liberator, while Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave, began writing for that newspaper around 1840 and started his own abolitionist newspaper North Star in 1847. The great majority of anti-slavery activists, such as Abraham Lincoln, rejected Garrison's theology and held that slavery was an unfortunate social evil, not a sin.
Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny
The American colonies and the new nation grew very rapidly in population and area, as pioneers pushed the frontier of settlement west. The process finally ended around 1890-1910 as the last major farmlands and ranch lands were settled.
The American colonies and the new nation grew very rapidly in population and area, as pioneers pushed the frontier of settlement west. The process finally ended around 1890-1910 as the last major farmlands and ranch lands were settled.
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| Frederick Jakson Turner's ideas formed the frontier thesis |
Native American
tribes in some places resisted militarily, but they were overwhelmed by
settlers and the army and after 1830 were relocated to reservations in
the west. The highly influential "Frontier Thesis" argues that the
frontier shaped the national character, with its boldness, violence,
innovation, individualism, and democracy.
Recent historians have emphasized the multicultural nature of the frontier. Enormous popular attention in the media focuses on the "Wild West" of the second half of the 19th century.
As defined by Hine and Faragher, "frontier history tells the story of the creation and defense of communities, the use of the land, the development of markets, and the formation of states".
They explain, "It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America."
Recent historians have emphasized the multicultural nature of the frontier. Enormous popular attention in the media focuses on the "Wild West" of the second half of the 19th century.
As defined by Hine and Faragher, "frontier history tells the story of the creation and defense of communities, the use of the land, the development of markets, and the formation of states".
They explain, "It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America."
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| The Oregon Trail |
Through wars and
treaties, establishment of law and order, building farms, ranches, and
towns, marking trails and digging mines, and pulling in great migrations
of foreigners, the United States expanded from coast to coast
fulfilling the dreams of Manifest Destiny. As the American frontier
passed into history, the myths of the west in fiction and film took firm
hold in the imagination of Americans and foreigners alike. America is
exceptional in choosing its iconic self-image. "No other nation," says
David Murdoch, "has taken a time and place from its past and produced a
construct of the imagination equal to America’s creation of the West."
From the early 1830s to 1869, the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by over 300,000 settlers. '49ers (in the California Gold Rush), ranchers, farmers, and entrepreneurs and their families headed to California, Oregon, and other points in the far west. Wagon-trains took five or six months on foot; after 1869, the trip took 6 days by rail.
From the early 1830s to 1869, the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by over 300,000 settlers. '49ers (in the California Gold Rush), ranchers, farmers, and entrepreneurs and their families headed to California, Oregon, and other points in the far west. Wagon-trains took five or six months on foot; after 1869, the trip took 6 days by rail.
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| American occupation of Mexico city during Mexican-American War |
Manifest Destiny
was the belief that American settlers were destined to expand across the
continent. This concept was born out of "A sense of mission to redeem
the Old World by high example... generated by the potentialities of a
new earth for building a new heaven." Manifest Destiny was rejected by
modernizers, especially the Whigs like Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln
who wanted to build cities and factories—not more farms. However
Democrats strongly favored expansion, and they won the key election of
1844. After a bitter debate in Congress the Republic of Texas was
annexed in 1845, which Mexico had warned meant war. War broke out in
1846, with the homefront polarized as Whigs opposed and Democrats
supported the war. The U.S. army, using regulars and large numbers of
volunteers, easily won the Mexican-American War (1846–48). The 1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made peace; Mexico recognized the annexation
of Texas and ceded its claims in the Southwest (especially California
and New Mexico). The Hispanic residents were given full citizenship and
the Mexican Indians became American Indians. Simultaneously gold was
discovered, pulling over 100,000 men to northern California in a matter
of months in the California Gold Rush. Not only did the then president
James K. Polk expand America's boarder to a fraction of Mexico but he
also annexed the north western frontier known as the Oregon Territory.
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| Division between North and South regarding slavery |
Divisions between North and South
The central issue after 1848 was the expansion of slavery, pitting the anti-slavery elements that were a majority in the North, against the pro-slavery elements that overwhelmingly dominated the white South. A small number of very active Northerners were abolitionists who declared that ownership of slaves was a sin (in terms of Protestant theology) and demanded its immediate abolition. Much larger numbers were against the expansion of slavery, seeking to put it on the path to extinction so that America would be committed to free land (as in low-cost farms owned and cultivated by a family), free labor (no slaves), and free speech (as opposed to censorship rampant in the South). Southern whites insisted that slavery was of economic social and cultural benefit to all whites (and even to the slaves themselves), and denounced all antislavery spokesmen as "abolitionists."
The central issue after 1848 was the expansion of slavery, pitting the anti-slavery elements that were a majority in the North, against the pro-slavery elements that overwhelmingly dominated the white South. A small number of very active Northerners were abolitionists who declared that ownership of slaves was a sin (in terms of Protestant theology) and demanded its immediate abolition. Much larger numbers were against the expansion of slavery, seeking to put it on the path to extinction so that America would be committed to free land (as in low-cost farms owned and cultivated by a family), free labor (no slaves), and free speech (as opposed to censorship rampant in the South). Southern whites insisted that slavery was of economic social and cultural benefit to all whites (and even to the slaves themselves), and denounced all antislavery spokesmen as "abolitionists."
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| Stephaen A. Douglas was the broker of compromise of 1850 |
Religious activists
split on slavery, with the Methodists and Baptists dividing into
northern and southern denominations. In the North, the Methodists,
Congregationalists and Quakers included many abolitionists, especially
among women activists. The Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran
denominations largely ignored the slavery issue.
The issue of slavery in the new territories was seemingly settled by the Compromise of 1850 brokered by Whig Henry Clay and Democrat Stephen Douglas; the Compromise included admission of California as a free state.
The sore point was the Fugitive Slave Act, which increased federal enforcement and required even free states to cooperate in turning over fugitive slaves to masters. Abolitionists fastened on the Act to attack slavery, as in the best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The issue of slavery in the new territories was seemingly settled by the Compromise of 1850 brokered by Whig Henry Clay and Democrat Stephen Douglas; the Compromise included admission of California as a free state.
The sore point was the Fugitive Slave Act, which increased federal enforcement and required even free states to cooperate in turning over fugitive slaves to masters. Abolitionists fastened on the Act to attack slavery, as in the best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
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| Kansas Nebraska Act created territories of America |
The Compromise of
1820 was repealed in 1854 with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, promoted by
Senator Douglas in the name of "popular sovereignty" and democracy. It
permitted settlers to decide on slavery in each territory, and allowed
Douglas to say he was neutral on the slavery issue. Antislavery forces
rose in anger and alarm, forming the new Republican Party. Pro and
anti-forces rushed to Kansas to vote slavery up or down, resulting in a
mini civil war called Bleeding Kansas. By the late 1850s the young
Republican Party dominated nearly all northern states and thus the
electoral college, and insisted that slavery would never be allowed to
expand (and thus would slowly die out).
The southern slave societies had become wealthy based on their cotton and other commodity production, and some particularly profited from the internal slave trade. Northern cities such as Boston and New York, and regional industries, were tied economically to slavery by banking, shipping, and manufacturing, including textile mills.
By 1860, there were four million slaves in the South,
nearly eight times as many as the total slaves nationwide in 1790. The
plantations were highly profitable because of the heavy European demand
for raw cotton; most of the profits were invested in new lands and new
slaves drawn from the declining tobacco regions. For 50 of the nation's
first 72 years a slaveholder served as president of the United States
and, during that period, only slaveholding presidents were re-elected to
second terms. In addition, southern states benefited by their increased
apportionment in Congress due to the partial counting of slaves in
their populations.
Slave rebellions were planned or actually took place —including by Gabriel Prosser (1800), Denmark Vesey (1822), Nat Turner (1831), and John Brown (1859) —but they only involved dozens of people and all failed. They caused fear in the white South, which imposed tighter slave oversight and reduced the rights of free blacks. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required the states to cooperate with slave owners when attempting to recover escaped slaves, which outraged northerners. Formerly, an escaped slave, having reached a non-slave state, was presumed to have attained sanctuary and freedom. The Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional; angry Republicans said it threatened to make slavery national.
After Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election, seven
Southern states seceded from the union and set up a new nation, the
Confederate States of America, on February 8, 1861. It attacked Fort
Sumter, a U.S. Army fort in South Carolina, thus igniting the war. When
Lincoln called for troops to suppress the Confederacy in April 1861,
four more states seceded and joined the Confederacy. Four of the five
northernmost "slave states" did not secede and became known as the
Border States. During the war the northwestern portion of Virginia
seceded and became the loyal Union state of West Virginia.
Civil War
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. In response to the attack, on April 15, Lincoln called on the states to send detachments totaling 75,000 troops to recapture forts, protect the capital, and "preserve the Union", which in his view still existed intact despite the actions of the seceding states.
The two armies had their first major clash at the
First Battle of Bull Run, ending in a Union defeat, but, more
importantly, proved to both the Union and Confederacy that the war would
be much longer and bloodier than originally anticipated. The war soon
divided into two theaters: Eastern and Western. In the western theater,
the Union was quite successful, with major battles, such as Perryville
and Shiloh, producing strategic Union victories and destroying major
Confederate operations.
Warfare in the Eastern theater started poorly for the Union as the Confederates won at Manassas Junction (Bull Run), just outside Washington. Major General George B. McClellan was put in charge of the Union armies. After reorganizing the new Army of the Potomac, McClellan failed to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia in his Peninsula Campaign and retreated after attacks from newly appointed Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Feeling confident in his army after defeating the
Union at Second Bull Run, Lee embarked on an invasion of the north that
was stopped by McClellan at the bloody Battle of Antietam. Despite this,
McClellan was relieved from command for refusing to pursue Lee's
crippled army. The next commander, General Ambrose Burnside, suffered a
humiliating defeat by Lee's smaller army at the Battle of Fredericksburg
late in 1862, causing yet another change in commanders. Lee won again
at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, while losing his top
aide, Stonewall Jackson. But Lee pushed too hard and ignored the Union
threat in the west. Lee invaded Pennsylvania in search of supplies and
to cause war weariness in the North. In perhaps the turning point of the
war, Lee's army was badly beaten at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3,
1863, and barely made it back to Virginia.
Simultaneously on July 4, 1863, Union forces under
the command of General Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the
Mississippi River at the Battle of Vicksburg, thereby splitting the
Confederacy. Lincoln made General Grant commander of all Union armies.
The last two years of the war were bloody for both sides, with Grant launching a war of attrition against General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This war of attrition was divided into three main campaigns. The first of these, the Overland Campaign forced Lee to retreat into the city of Petersburg where Grant launched his second major offensive, the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign in which he besieged Petersburg. After a near ten-month siege, Petersburg surrendered. However, the defense of Fort Gregg allowed Lee to move his army out of Petersburg. Grant pursued and launched the final, Appomattox Campaign which resulted in Lee surrendering his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House. Other Confederate armies followed suit and the war ended with no postwar insurgency.
Based on 1860 census figures, about 8% of all white
males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% from the North and 18%
from the South, establishing the American Civil War as the deadliest
war in American history. Its legacy includes ending slavery in the
United States, restoring the Union, and strengthening the role of the
federal government.
Reconstruction and the Gilded Age
Reconstruction lasted from Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 to the Compromise of 1877. The major issues faced by Lincoln were the status of the ex-slaves (called "Freedmen"), the loyalty and civil rights of ex-rebels, the status of the 11 ex-Confederate states, the powers of the federal government needed to prevent a future civil war, and the question of whether Congress or the President would make the major decisions.
The severe threats of starvation and displacement of
the unemployed Freedmen were met by the first major federal relief
agency, the Freedmen's Bureau, operated by the Army.
Three "Reconstruction Amendments" were passed to expand civil rights for black Americans: the Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed equal rights for all and citizenship for blacks; the Fifteenth Amendment prevented race from being used to disfranchise men.
Ex-Confederates remained in control of most Southern states for over two years, but that changed when the Radical Republicans gained control of Congress in the 1866 elections. President Andrew Johnson, who sought easy terms for reunions with ex-rebels, was virtually powerless; he escaped by one vote removal through impeachment. Congress enfranchised black men and stripped many ex-Confederate leaders of the right to hold office. New Republican governments came to power based on a coalition of Freedmen made up of Carpetbaggers (new arrivals from the North), and Scalawags (native white Southerners).
They were backed by the US Army. Opponents said they
were corrupt and violated the rights of whites. State by state they lost
power to a conservative-Democratic coalition, which gained control of
the entire South by 1877. In response to Radical Reconstruction, the Ku
Klux Klan (KKK) emerged in 1867 as a white-supremacist organization
opposed to black civil rights and Republican rule. President Ulysses
Grant's vigorous enforcement of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1870 shut down
the Klan, and it disbanded. However, there were other paramilitary
groups, such as the White League and Red Shirts that worked to regain
white political power in states across the South during the 1870s.
Reconstruction ended after the disputed 1876 election between Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden. With a compromise Hayes won the election, the federal government withdrew its troops from the South, and Southern Democrats re-entered the national political scene. After 1890 southern states effectively disfranchised black voters. Blacks were segregated in public places and remained second class citizens in a system known as Jim Crow until the successes of the Civil Rights movement in 1964-65.
The latter half of the nineteenth century was marked
by the United States' development and settlement of the West, first by
wagon trains and then aided by the completion of the transcontinental
railroad and frequent wars with Native Americans as settlers encroached
on their traditional lands.
Gradually the US purchased their lands and extinguished their claims, forcing most tribes onto restricted reservations.
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1894):
The Gilded Age
The "Gilded Age" was a term that Mark Twain used to describe the period of the late 19th century when there had been a dramatic expansion of American wealth and prosperity.
Reform of the Age included the Civil Service Act, which mandated a competitive examination for applicants for government jobs.
Other important legislation included the Interstate Commerce Act, which ended railroads' discrimination against small shippers, and the Sherman Antitrust Act, which outlawed monopolies in business.
Twain believed that this age was corrupted by such elements as land speculators, scandalous politics, and unethical business practices.
By 1890 American industrial production and per capita
income exceeded those of all other world nations. In response to heavy
debts and decreasing farm prices, wheat and cotton farmers joined the
Populist Party.
An unprecedented wave of immigration from Europe served to both provide the labor for American industry and create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas. From 1880 to 1914, peak years of immigration, more than 22 million people migrated to the United States.
The workers' demand for control of their workplace led to the often-violent rise of the labor movement in the cities and mining camps.
Industrial leaders included John D. Rockefeller in oil and Andrew Carnegie in steel; both became leaders of philanthropy, giving away their fortunes to create the modern system of hospitals, universities, libraries, and foundations.
A severe nationwide depression broke out in 1893; it
was called the Panic of 1893 and impacted farmers, workers, and
businessmen who saw prices, wages, and profits fall. Many railroads went
bankrupt.
The resultant political reaction fell on the Democratic Party, whose leader President Grover Cleveland shouldered much of the blame.
Labor unrest involved numerous strikes, most notably the violent Pullman Strike of 1894, which was shut down by federal troops under Cleveland's orders.
The Populist Party gained strength among cotton and wheat farmers, as well as coal miners, but was overtaken by the even more popular Free Silver movement. This Free Silver movement demanded using silver to enlarge the money supply, leading to inflation that the silverites promised would end the depression.
The financial, railroad, and business communities fought back hard, arguing that only the gold standard would save the economy.
In the most intense election in the nation's history, conservative Republican William McKinley defeated silverite William Jennings Bryan, who ran on the Democratic, Populist, and Silver Republican tickets.
Bryan swept the South and West, but McKinley ran up landslides among the middle class, industrial workers, cities, and among upscale farmers in the Midwest.
Prosperity returned under McKinley, the gold standard was enacted, and the tariff was raised. By 1900 the US had the strongest economy on the globe.
Apart from two short recessions (in 1907 and 1920) the overall economy remained prosperous and growing until 1929. Republicans, citing McKinley's policies, took the credit.
The southern slave societies had become wealthy based on their cotton and other commodity production, and some particularly profited from the internal slave trade. Northern cities such as Boston and New York, and regional industries, were tied economically to slavery by banking, shipping, and manufacturing, including textile mills.
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| John Brown |
Slave rebellions were planned or actually took place —including by Gabriel Prosser (1800), Denmark Vesey (1822), Nat Turner (1831), and John Brown (1859) —but they only involved dozens of people and all failed. They caused fear in the white South, which imposed tighter slave oversight and reduced the rights of free blacks. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required the states to cooperate with slave owners when attempting to recover escaped slaves, which outraged northerners. Formerly, an escaped slave, having reached a non-slave state, was presumed to have attained sanctuary and freedom. The Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional; angry Republicans said it threatened to make slavery national.
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| Abraham Lincoln, the 16 US President |
Civil War
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. In response to the attack, on April 15, Lincoln called on the states to send detachments totaling 75,000 troops to recapture forts, protect the capital, and "preserve the Union", which in his view still existed intact despite the actions of the seceding states.
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| First Battle of Bull Run |
Warfare in the Eastern theater started poorly for the Union as the Confederates won at Manassas Junction (Bull Run), just outside Washington. Major General George B. McClellan was put in charge of the Union armies. After reorganizing the new Army of the Potomac, McClellan failed to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia in his Peninsula Campaign and retreated after attacks from newly appointed Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
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| 22717 were killed, wounded and missed in battle of Atietam |
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| Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee |
The last two years of the war were bloody for both sides, with Grant launching a war of attrition against General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This war of attrition was divided into three main campaigns. The first of these, the Overland Campaign forced Lee to retreat into the city of Petersburg where Grant launched his second major offensive, the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign in which he besieged Petersburg. After a near ten-month siege, Petersburg surrendered. However, the defense of Fort Gregg allowed Lee to move his army out of Petersburg. Grant pursued and launched the final, Appomattox Campaign which resulted in Lee surrendering his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House. Other Confederate armies followed suit and the war ended with no postwar insurgency.
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| 8% white males aged 13-43 died in American Civil War |
Reconstruction and the Gilded Age
Reconstruction lasted from Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 to the Compromise of 1877. The major issues faced by Lincoln were the status of the ex-slaves (called "Freedmen"), the loyalty and civil rights of ex-rebels, the status of the 11 ex-Confederate states, the powers of the federal government needed to prevent a future civil war, and the question of whether Congress or the President would make the major decisions.
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| Freedmen voting in New Orleans, 1867 |
Three "Reconstruction Amendments" were passed to expand civil rights for black Americans: the Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed equal rights for all and citizenship for blacks; the Fifteenth Amendment prevented race from being used to disfranchise men.
Ex-Confederates remained in control of most Southern states for over two years, but that changed when the Radical Republicans gained control of Congress in the 1866 elections. President Andrew Johnson, who sought easy terms for reunions with ex-rebels, was virtually powerless; he escaped by one vote removal through impeachment. Congress enfranchised black men and stripped many ex-Confederate leaders of the right to hold office. New Republican governments came to power based on a coalition of Freedmen made up of Carpetbaggers (new arrivals from the North), and Scalawags (native white Southerners).
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| Ku Klux Klan (KKK)-the Logo |
Reconstruction ended after the disputed 1876 election between Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden. With a compromise Hayes won the election, the federal government withdrew its troops from the South, and Southern Democrats re-entered the national political scene. After 1890 southern states effectively disfranchised black voters. Blacks were segregated in public places and remained second class citizens in a system known as Jim Crow until the successes of the Civil Rights movement in 1964-65.
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| Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th US president |
Gradually the US purchased their lands and extinguished their claims, forcing most tribes onto restricted reservations.
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1894):
The Indian wars under the government of the United States have been more than 40 in number. They have cost the lives of about 19,000 white men, women and children, including those killed in individual combats, and the lives of about 30,000 Indians.
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| Mark Twain used the term Gilded Age |
The "Gilded Age" was a term that Mark Twain used to describe the period of the late 19th century when there had been a dramatic expansion of American wealth and prosperity.
Reform of the Age included the Civil Service Act, which mandated a competitive examination for applicants for government jobs.
Other important legislation included the Interstate Commerce Act, which ended railroads' discrimination against small shippers, and the Sherman Antitrust Act, which outlawed monopolies in business.
Twain believed that this age was corrupted by such elements as land speculators, scandalous politics, and unethical business practices.
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| John Davision Rockefeller, Sr |
An unprecedented wave of immigration from Europe served to both provide the labor for American industry and create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas. From 1880 to 1914, peak years of immigration, more than 22 million people migrated to the United States.
The workers' demand for control of their workplace led to the often-violent rise of the labor movement in the cities and mining camps.
Industrial leaders included John D. Rockefeller in oil and Andrew Carnegie in steel; both became leaders of philanthropy, giving away their fortunes to create the modern system of hospitals, universities, libraries, and foundations.
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| Panic of 1893 caused depression in US |
The resultant political reaction fell on the Democratic Party, whose leader President Grover Cleveland shouldered much of the blame.
Labor unrest involved numerous strikes, most notably the violent Pullman Strike of 1894, which was shut down by federal troops under Cleveland's orders.
The Populist Party gained strength among cotton and wheat farmers, as well as coal miners, but was overtaken by the even more popular Free Silver movement. This Free Silver movement demanded using silver to enlarge the money supply, leading to inflation that the silverites promised would end the depression.
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| William Mckinley, the 25th US president |
In the most intense election in the nation's history, conservative Republican William McKinley defeated silverite William Jennings Bryan, who ran on the Democratic, Populist, and Silver Republican tickets.
Bryan swept the South and West, but McKinley ran up landslides among the middle class, industrial workers, cities, and among upscale farmers in the Midwest.
Prosperity returned under McKinley, the gold standard was enacted, and the tariff was raised. By 1900 the US had the strongest economy on the globe.
Apart from two short recessions (in 1907 and 1920) the overall economy remained prosperous and growing until 1929. Republicans, citing McKinley's policies, took the credit.
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