I - A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

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E. Democratic America (1815 - 1850)

âœA happy mediocrity❠- Benjamin Franklin

high birth rates + flood of immigrants = huge population increase

increasingly cheap sea passage

In Europe, increasing taxation, famines, Bonapartist wars

expense of government per capita was 10% of that in England

political freedom, social mobility

most important = cheap, fertile land

in 1816-21 alone, six new States added

most significant economic development - use of cotton

great material for clothing

problem was the expense - spur to mechanical invention

By 1860, price of cotton cloth was less than 1% of what it had been in

1784

result was increased demand in Britain for raw cotton

Southern States began to grow cotton for export in the 1780s

By 1860, nearly 1 Billion of cotton pounds exported to Britain

but harvesting the cotton was labor intensive

Gave new life to the institution of slavery, which was thought to be dying

Cash value of slaves was 35% of the capital of the South - over $2 Billion

Scheme of President Monroe to send blacks back to Africa

founded Liberia 1824

Capital is âœMonroviaâ

Scheme did not work

âœMissouri Compromise❠- 1820

by then slavery was largely absent from the North, but felt by the South to be

economically essential

Senate equally divided between slave and free States

Missouri was first attempt to create a slave State West of the Mississippi

issue almost split the country

solution was to admit both Maine and Missouri at once

Maintains balance in Senate

Also prohibited slavery north of the North latitude line of Missouri

economic policy was another source of political tensions between North and South

South was an exporter, and wanted high tariffs

North had new industries and wanted protection by high tariffs

transportation moved from waterways to railroads

social history written 1835-40 by Alexis de Toqueville - âœDemocracy in Americaâ

He had an enormous grasp of the moral content of America

book is required reading for anyone who wants to understand America

Westward expansion in earnest

Texas - part of Mexico

1835 - revolutionaries declared the Republic of Texas

Remained so for ten years - admitted to U.S. in 1845

War with Mexico in 1846-48 led to the conquest of California, became a U.S. territory

California gold rush - 1849

U.S. also purchased the southern portion of Arizona and New Mexico in 1853

When California joined the Union as a free state ( ), balance was tipped

From then on, anti-slavery majorities in both Houses of Congress

F. Civil War America (1850 - 1870)

Slavery was on the way out in early 19th Century (but see above re: economics)

formal movements to end slavery began in1766

Northern States outlawed slavery during Revolutionary War

Britain outlawed the international slave trade in 1807

U.S. banned importation of slaves in 1808

But prices of slaves on the rise, efforts made to repeal the ban

intense, varied, religious sentiment increased during 19th Century

ultimately made the slavery issue impossible to ignore - fundamentally

incompatible with religion and American stated ideals

âœUncle Tomâ™s Cabin❠(1853) highlighted the abuses of slavery

major political effects and influenced public opinion on the issue

âœMost successful propaganda tract of all timeâ

Dred Scott case - 1857 - critical importance in leading up to the civil war

Scott was a slave who was taken to a free state, then returned to Missouri

He sued for his freedom, arguing that by living in a free state he was free

He lost, for four reasons, including that Negroes could not be citizens

Supreme Court (dominated by Southerners) held the Missouri compromise

to be unconstitutional, because it deprived persons (slave owners) of their

property (slaves)

Reality was the relative decline of Southern political power

South felt the real issue was economic (free land and tariffs)

Election of Abraham Lincoln as President in 1860

humble, self-taught man

created the Republican party, primarily to prevent slaveryâ™s extension

core constitutional issue:

could the individual States, having joined the Union, leave it?

âœA house divided against itself cannot stand❠- Lincoln

South Carolina began debating succession three days after the election of Lincoln

By February, 1861 the Confederated States of America was formed

In time, eleven States joined the Confederacy

Missouri, the creation of which helped precipitate the war, stayed in the Union

the shooting war came in April 1861

immediate cause was issue of who was now in command of the Federal forces in

the States which had succeeded

Federal commander in Charleston was loyal to government in Washington

South Carolina troops fired on Fort Sumpter

The result was four long years of slaughter

families divided, great bitterness

__________ total casualties

South was almost destined to lose a war, which was against the rational interests

of the South

North had enormous advantages in industry, education, wealth

Railroads in the south were primitive, disorganized, poorly connected

The Confederation repeated some of the mistakes of the original U.S. political

arrangement loose central government

Troops and politicians were more loyal to the State than to the central government

but, South had outstanding leadership (Especially Lee, Jackson)

As Northern armies entered the South, what to do with the slaves?

Some generals freed them on the spot, but they had no authority to do so

Emancipation Proclamation - effective 1/1/1863

Didnâ™t really free anybody immediately

Had to be concerned about border states with slaves (e.g., Missouri)

Lee surrendered his Army April 9, 1865

Lincoln was killed a week later by a southern sympathizer

Lincolnâ™s death made the process of âœreconstruction❠much more difficult.

Lincoln had wanted a quick transition back to normal plus political justice

for the blacks

But Congress wanted to punish the rebels

What to do with the South? With the former slaves?

Democracy, in the sense of majority rule, was in conflict with equality

before the law of the former slaves.

Reconstruction fell to Andrew Johnson, who was politically weaker than Lincoln

subsequent experience was not a happy one

Congress wanted to punish the South

conflict made worse by Southern efforts to restrict the rights of newly freed slaves

political hatred led to efforts to remove Johnson from office

Whole thing led to rise of hate groups, such as the KKK - murders and intimidations

By the time the last federal troops were withdrawn (1877), whites had taken over again

blacks were very much second class citizens

Important to note, that before the Civil War America had not been a âœNationâ

Collection of artificial states, bound together by agreements and compacts

Interesting that the word âœnation❠does not appear in the Declaration of Indep.

Or in the constitution

G. Industrial America (1870 - 1912)

Time of huge economic expansion

mechanization of agriculture

Transcontinental railroad - 1868

railroads were subsidized and legally privileged

Including right of âœeminent domainâ

Huge land grants, in many cases

Led to abuses

ICC formed in 1877 (?)

By 1890 the frontier was gone

The West was a rather violent place until around 1920

natural population increase plus massive immigration

pressures all be eliminated the Indian population

growth of manufacturing, due to:

liberal patent laws

relatively high cost of labor gave incentive for mechanization

abundance and variety of energy sources

freedom of interstate commerce

huge profits were being made

âœRobber Barons❠- impact more important than the Presidents of that time

Free to build and serve the public

but absence of safeguards to protect the public

abuse of financial power was common

How this happened in a democracy is something os a mystery

rise of industrial concentration - various devices - for example:

corporations

trusts - movement began in earnest in 1873

Shareholders placed controlling stock interest in hands of Trustee

Concentration of market power led to Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

holding companies (greatest concentration 1897 - 1904)

paralleled by rise in labor unions

never organized explicitly into a political party (c.f. Britain)

Although socialist and quasi-socialist parties have existed

Militant unions - stigma of violence (although union violence was not popular)

clashes between economically powerful business and militant unions

press (âœmuckrackersâ) worked against extremes of capitalism

issues of business size and control of the economy

brings both benefits and costs

Standard Oil Trust

Ruthless and predatory

But cut cost of refined oil in half

Dissolved by Supreme Court in 1911

anti-bigness emotion was a common feeling of this era

During this era, Alaska was purchased from Russia for $7.2 Million

first non-contiguous expansion of U.S.

became a Territory in 1912

Statehood in _____