Download US history whirlwind

The United States
A whirlwind history of our country
up to the Civil War!
Independence for the colonies
• The American
colonies gained their
independence from
Britain after the
Revolutionary War.
• At that point (1783),
the US was only made
up of the land from the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Mississippi River.
Louisiana Purchase
• The Louisiana Purchase was made in
1803 while Thomas Jefferson was
president.
• It was purchased from the French
(Napoleon was emperor) and doubled the
size of the US.
– Now the boundary stretched to the Rocky
Mountains!
Other Land Acquisitions
• Florida
– Spain gave up Florida to the US in 1819.
• Oregon territories
– Britain gave the US part of the Oregon
territory in a treaty in 1846.
– This gave the US land that stretched from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
• Mexico still controlled California and other
southwestern states, but the US had access to
both oceans.
Manifest Destiny
• Manifest Destinyidea that the US has
the right to rule North
America from the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean.
– This will be the
rationale for removing
natives from their
lands.
• Indian Removal Act of
1830- law that
enabled the federal
government to force
Native Americans
living in the East to
move to the West.
Trail of Tears
• Cherokees in Georgia challenged the
Indian Removal Act in front of the
Supreme Court.
– The Supreme Court ruled that the suit was
invalid and that they must move West.
• They (along with many other tribes) were
forced to march all the way to Oklahoma
and to live on reservations.
– About 25% of them died of starvation or
disease on the way.
Primary Account
“The day was bright and beautiful but a gloomy
thoughtfulness was depicted in the lineaments of
every face…At this very moment a low sound of
distant thunder fell on my ear… and sent forth a
murmur, I almost thought a voice of divine
indignation for the wrong of my poor and
unhappy countrymen, driven by brutal power
from all they loved and cherished in the land of
their fathers.”
–William Shorey Coodey quoted in The Trail of Tears
Texas Joins the US
• Mexico gained its independence from Spain in
1821.
• They controlled the lands west of the Louisiana
Purchase (including Texas).
• Mexico gave US settlers permission to settle in
the territory that is today called Texas.
– Mexico eventually tightened control of those settlers
and they revolted.
• Texas gained its independence in 1836.
– Nine years later (1845), the US annexed Texas.
• Mexico saw this as an act of war!
Mexican-American War
• May 1846-February 1848
• Famous battles:
– Alamo
– San Jacinto
• Mexico surrendered and ceded California
the US.
• The US would later buy the land between
Texas and California from Mexico.
– Known as the Gadsden Purchase
“Quick Review”
1. What was the cause of the MexicanAmerican War?
2. Was the Louisiana Purchase
constitutional?
3. What is your opinion on manifest
destiny?
4. How do you think that people were able
to rationalize the Indian Removal Act and
the Trail of Tears?
North vs. South
• North
• South
– Industrial
– Many immigrants
– Very little need for
slave labor
– Needs a strong central
government
– Supports tariffs
• To protect their young
businesses
– Agrarian
– Few immigrants
– Economy based on
free or slave labor
– Favors states’ rights
– Does NOT want tariffs
• Has to import many
things
These differences will lead to trouble!!!
Civil War
• When a war breaks out between people of the
same country it is called a civil war.
• The idea of war started over the expansion of
slavery.
– The South thought that it was their right to move
anywhere in the nation and continue slavery, but the
North thought that slavery should be restricted.
• During the presidential election of 1860, Lincoln
promised to stop the spread of slavery if he was
elected.
– South Carolina promised that if he was elected they
would secede from the union!
Fort Sumter Starts the War
• On April 12, 1861 the US Civil War began
when Confederate soldiers fired on Fort
Sumter (located in South Carolina) when
Lincoln tried to re-supply it.
• The fighting would continue for the next
four years and lead to more than 600,000
American deaths.
• the South surrendered at Appomattox
Courthouse, Virginia in 1865.
Emancipation
• Lincoln did not intend to end slavery when the
Civil War started.
• He found later that it would benefit the Union’s
cause if he freed the slaves in the South.
– This is known as Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation.
• Following the Civil War, all slaves were given
freedom with the 13th amendment.
– 14th amendment made them citizens.
– 15th amendment allowed males the right to vote.
Life After War
• A period of reconstruction lasted from
1865 to 1877 in the South.
– There were Union troops monitoring actions in
the south.
– White southerners limited the rights of African
Americans in every way possible.
• Especially when it came to voting
“Quick Review”
1. What was the Emancipation
Proclamation?
2. Where were the first shots of the Civil
War fired?
3. Who do you think had the advantage
going into the war? North or South?