Unit+One+-+Defining+the+Nation




 * 1.1 A New Nation (1789-1820) **

Readings: Textbook Chapter 2



Introduction: America faced major conflicts in its first years. The ways in which we dealt with these conflicts laid the foundations of our government and made us the nation we are today. In this unit, we will study the debate over a vision for America, the formation of the first political parties, groups left out of the political process, and turbulent relations with Europe.

Major Topics & Events:
 * The Constitution replaces the Articles of Confederation.
 * The Federalist Era establishes central (national) government power.
 * The Jeffersonians resist federal power and establish a new political party.
 * United States defends its sovereignty against Britain and France.



Terms to Know: loose construction, strict construction, Judiciary Act of 1789, Hamilton's economic plan, Federalist Party, laissez-faire, Bill of Rights, Whiskey Rebellion, Democratic-Republican Party, Treaty of Greenville, Pinckney's Treaty, French Revolution, Proclamation of Neutrality, Jay's Treaty, Washington's Farewell Address, "Quasi-War," XYZ Affair, Alien & Sedition Acts, Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions, Doctrine of Nullification, "Revolution" of 1800, "midnight judges," Marshall Court, Marbury v. Madison (1803), Louisiana Purchase, re-export trade, impressment, Embargo Act of 1807, Battle of Tippecanoe, War Hawks, War of 1812, Treaty of Ghent, Battle of New Orleans, Hartford Convention, Adams-Onis Treaty, Era of Good Feelings

Links: Articles v. Constitution Historical Background to the Constitution War of 1812 Video


 * 1.2 Expansion & Reform (1800-1850) **

Readings: Textbook Chapters 3-5



Introduction: Americans felt an overwhelming sense of national unity after the War of 1812 and began to expand their territory and economy. Under federal supervision, the nation began to industrialize and build a strong economy. At the same time, Americans continued to debate the foundation of the national economy. Would it be based on slave labor and agriculture, or rather on wage labor and industrial factories? Americans were divided over the economy, moral values, and slavery. One thing they seemed to be unified in was the need to expand and settle the west.

Major Topics & Events:
 * Early industrialization changes transportation (railroads), communication (telegraphs), and work life (factories), increasing the speed of business.
 * The North embraces a factory-based industrial system, but the South prospers from a slave-based plantation system.
 * High tariffs become a major conflict because they help Northern businesses, but hurt Southern farmers.
 * The invention of the cotton gin increases the need for slaves, but Northerners do not want slavery to spread to the western territories.
 * Andrew Jackson increases political participation of poor white males, increases presidential power, and removes American Indian tribes to reservations.
 * A religious awakening prompts groups to organize social reforms like better schools and prisons, women's rights, and abolition of slavery.
 * Americans feel they have a God-given "manifest destiny" to settle, civilize, and profit from the western lands.

Terms to Know: Industrial Revolution, interchangeable parts, sewing machine, factory system, wage ("free") labor, tariffs, nationalism, Monroe Doctrine, Marshall Court, American System, internal improvements, Erie Canal, telegraph, agricultural innovations, cotton gin, plantation system, slave labor, Cotton Kingdom, sectionalism, Missouri Compromise, business cycle, Election of 1824, "corrupt bargain," Jacksonian Democracy, Indian Removal Act, //Worcester v. Georgia// (1832), Trail of Tears, Tariff of Abominations, Nullification Crisis, Nat Turner's Rebellion, Bank War, Whig Party, Election of 1840, Second Great Awakening, perfectionism, Transcendentalism, Hudson River School, Neoclassical architecture, American literature, utopian communities, reform movements, temperance, women's rights, suffrage, Declaration of Sentiments, abolition movement, "necessary evil," //The Liberator//, //The North Star, Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World,// manifest destiny, westward expansion, Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842), "54-40' or Fight!," Election of 1844, Texas Annexation, Mexican American War, Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexican Cession, Wilmot Proviso, Gadsden Purchase, gold rush

Westward Expansion video

//Amistad// Discussion Questions:

1. In 1839, the time of the //Amistad// incident until well into the Civil War, most people in the U.S. either supported slavery or were willing to tolerate its existence. Can you explain this? 2. Why was the //Amistad// incident instrumental in changing attitudes of Northerners about slavery in the South? 3. Which of the scenes in the film most clearly reveals the immoral and dehumanizing aspect of slavery?


 * 1.3 Civil War & Reconstruction (1850-1877) **

Readings: Textbook Chapters 6-8



Introduction: Americans continued to argue over the important issues of slavery and tariffs until South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1860. The United States fought a brutal civil war for the next four years to determine once and for all who had supreme power over the law - federal or state governments. After the war, the federal government attempted, but ultimately failed, to rebuild the South and to protect the rights of African American citizens.

Major Topics & Events:
 * Americans are divided over whether or not slavery will spread to the new lands in the West.
 * Anti-slavery movements gain strength and oppose the Dred Scott decision and the harsh Fugitive Slave Law.
 * South Carolina secedes after Abraham Lincoln is elected without any electoral votes from the South.
 * Civil war rages for four years before the Union defeats the Confederacy and slavery is abolished permanently.
 * The Southern land and economy are devastated by war, but Americans debate how the South should be reconstructed.
 * Political compromise ends the federal occupation of the South, as well as federal protection of African American rights.

Horrible Histories Civil War

Terms to Know: Compromise of 1850, popular sovereignty, Fugitive Slave Act, Underground Railroad, //Uncle Tom's Cabin//, Kansas-Nebraska Act, "Bleeding Kansas," Party realignment, Brooks-Sumner Incident, //Dred Scott v. Sanford//, Lincoln-Douglas debates, Freeport Doctrine, John Brown's Raid, Election of 1860, secession, Confederate States of America, Fort Sumter, wartime advantages, Anaconda Plan, Bull Run, Antietam, Emancipation Proclamation, income tax, Homestead Act, draft riots, Copperheads, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Gettysburg Address, "March to the Sea," Appomatox Courthouse, Lincoln's assassination, Presidential Reconstruction, Radical Republicans, Congressional Reconstruction, Reconstruction amendments, Freedman's Bureau, black codes, Civil Rights Act of 1866, Military Reconstruction, scalawags & carpetbaggers, segregation, sharecropping, Ku Klux Klan, Compromise of 1877, Solid South


 * 1.4 Settling the West (1860-1900) **

Readings: Textbook Chapters 11 and 12.3



Introduction: As recovery moves slowly in the South following Reconstruction, many look to the West as a land of opportunity. Small farmers and newly freed slaves take advantage of the Homestead Act, which provides 160 acres of land out West for independent small farmers. Life is not easy for these pioneers, including conflict with Native American tribes in the Plains. To protect settlers, industry, and access to land and resources, the US army fights a less famous war against the warrior tribes of the West. At the same time, a different sort of conflict emerges between small farmers and big industry in the West.

Major Topics & Events:
 * The US army, trained and equipped after the Civil War, turns its forces on American Indian resistance to white settlement out West.
 * In a series of wars with the various Plains Indian tribes, the US acquires access to vast amounts of land and resources.
 * Native Americans are confined to the reservation system and are expected to assimilate to white culture.
 * Mining, ranching, farming, and railroads promise big opportunity for settlers who flock West.
 * The Homestead Act encourages settlement, and new technologies increase the chances for success in the arid West.
 * Farmers fight for survival against railroad monopolies and other big businesses they rely on.
 * The Populist party fights for reform on a national level against big business and corrupt politicians.

Terms to Know: Limited recovery in the South, westward expansion, reservation system, Sand Creek Massacre, "Indian (or Plains) Wars," Battle of Little Big Horn, Wounded Knee, Nez Perce, assimilation, Dawes Severalty Act, //A Century of Dishonor//, gold rush, Comstock Lode, boomtowns, Transcontinental Railroad, cattle drives, barbed wire, refrigerated railcar, windmill, Homestead Act, Morrill Land Grant Act, Oklahoma Land Rush, closing of the frontier, Farmers' Alliances, cooperatives, the Grange, //Munn v. Illinois//, //Wabash v. Illinois//, railroad rebates, Interstate Commerce Act, Populist Party, Omaha Platform, gold standard, "free silver" (bimetallism), "Cross of Gold" speech, Election of 1896