Chapter 3: An Emerging
New Nation
(1763 – 1861)
Section 1
Life in the New Nation
Setting the Scene
• Daniel Boone
– cut the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap
• began in Eastern Tennessee, ended in what in now Louisville, KY
• became the main route to the lands west of the Appalachians
America’s Population:
Growing and Young
• westward surge was
evidence of a
growing population
– average American
woman had about
five children
Territorial Expansion
• land north of the Ohio
River
– became Michigan
Territory and three new
states: Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois
“Old America seems to be breaking up and moving
westward. We are seldom out of sight, as we travel on
this grand track towards the Ohio, of family groups
behind and before us, some [intending to go] to a
particular spot, close to a brother perhaps, or [to] a
friend who has gone before and reported well of the
country.”
– Morris Birkbeck
• Northwest
Territory – land
north of the Ohio
River had been
closed to slavery
by the Northwest
Ordinance of
1787
– yet they made
laws to
discourage
African
Americans from
moving there
• Expansion into Florida
– Pinckney Treaty of 1795 – the southern boundary
of the United States had been set at 31°N latitude
• Spain and the United States agreed to control the
Native Americans living within each country’s
territories and to prevent them from attacking the
other country’s territory
• Jackson and Florida
– Seminoles were coming from Florida and raiding
settlers in Georgia
– Andrew Jackson – was sent to stop the Native
Americans and invaded Florida claiming
possession of the western half of the territory
– John Quincy Adams (6th President) accused Spain
of breaking the Pinckney Treaty by failing to
control the Seminoles
– Spain reluctantly agreed to accept the loss of Florida
– Transcontinental Treaty or Adams-Onís Treaty
• Spain gave up FL as well as its claims on the Pacific Northwest
• fixed the boundary between the Louisiana Purchase and
Spanish territory in the West
Texas and Oregon Country
• government assumed that
the lands of the Louisiana
Purchase would remain
part of “Indian Country” settlers had a different idea
• Mexico and Texas
– Stephen F. Austin – founded
a colony in Mexican Texas
and began settling families
there
– newcomers called for the
same rights from the
Mexican government that
they had possessed in the
United States
• The Texas War for Independence
– General Antonio López de Santa Anna – stripped
Texas of its rights of self-government
– Alamo
• William Travis and James
Bowie hoped to slow the
general’s advance long
enough to allow their fellow
rebels to assemble an army
• Mexican Army – overwhelmed
the Alamo and killed most of
those inside
– Goliad
• Santa Anna ordered the killing
of more than 300 Texans
– these two events enraged
and energized the Texans
• March 2, 1836 – rebels formally declared the
founding of an independent Republic of Texas
– San Jacinto – the Texans captured and defeated Santa
Anna, forcing him to recognize the Republic of Texas
– Sam Houston – elected as the first president
• The Oregon Country
– stretched from northern California to the
southern border of Alaska
– 1842 – organized wagon trains carried masses of
migrants to Oregon along Indian trails
• began in Independence, Missouri for the 2,000 mile
journey
• Treaty of 1846 – the
United States and
Great Britain agreed to
divide the Oregon
Country along the 49th
parallel
– westward migration
brought the creation of
new cities, new
territories, new states
• Iowa (1846)
• Wisconsin (1848)
• Minnesota (1868)
The Spirit of Improvement
• reflects the ideals of
the Enlightenment
• Improvement
Through Education
– people believed that
the general
condition of
humankind could be
improved by
schooling
– Noah Webster – first
major dictionary of
American English
– wanted schools to develop
character by promoting certain
virtues
– republican virtues – the virtues the
American people would need to
govern themselves in the new
republic
• self-reliance, industry, frugality,
harmony, sacrifice of individual needs
for the good of the community
• The Role of Women
– women had such virtues as
honesty, self-restraint, and
discipline that they should teach to
young men
– most schools were for boys only
• some would create “female
departments”
The Industrial Revolution
• Americans developed and profited from a variety
of inventions that produced goods and materials
faster and more cheaply
• Industrial Revolution – ongoing effort over many
decades to increase production by using machines
powered by sources other than humans or animals
• James Watt’s – British inventor of the steam
engine
– British jealously guarded all knowledge of their new
technology and forbade designers from emigrating
(moving out of the country)
• New Technology
Comes to America
– Samuel Slater –
emigrated to the
United States after
working in the British
textile industry
• reproduced the
complicated
machinery of the
British mills
• Eli Whitney and
Interchangeable Parts
– signed a contract to
make 10,000 guns
– realized that if all the
parts were made exactly
alike, they could be used
on any of the guns
– other inventors later
perfected the system of
interchangeable parts –
where all parts are made
to an exact standard
• The Cotton Gin
– Whitney visited the
South
– noticed that it took
a laborer one day
to clean one pound
of cotton
– cotton gin –
machine that
separates the seeds
from raw cotton
fibers
• could now clean
1,000 pounds per
day
– as a result of the cotton
gin, planters bought
more enslaved Africans
to work on the new
and expanded cotton
plantations
– helped to keep the
southern states a land
of slavery and of
farming, while the
northern states
became a land of free
labor and industry
• these fundamental
differences between
North and South would
help lead to civil war
Transportation and Communication
• Steam Power
– Robert Fulton – proved that steam could be used to
power a ship with his steamboat Clermont
• demonstrated that a steamboat could travel against the
current
• Canals - artificial
waterways
– Erie Canal – connected
the Hudson River with
Lake Erie
• people and goods could
now travel easily
between the Atlantic
Coast and the Great
Lakes
• Roads
– National or Cumberland Road was built to last
• financed by the government
• however, most of the new roads were privately built and
paid for by collecting tolls
• Railroads
– steam-locomotive ~ a self-propelled vehicle used for
pulling railroad cars (Baltimore and Ohio [B&O] Line)
• with the transportation revolution,
communication expanded (Postal Service)
– regular mail delivery helped create a national
network of information in the form of newspapers,
magazines, and books
The Second Great Awakening
• the pressures of a
changing society led
many people to renew
their religious faith
– Second Great
Awakening – great
religious movement of
the early 1800s among
Protestant Christians • New Denominations
• revival – gathering at
which people were
“revived” or brought
back to a religious life
– denomination – religious
subgroup
• Baptists, Methodists,
Unitarians, Mormons
African American Worship
• black and white religious traditions blended
together
– spirituals – folk hymns
• African Americans started their own churches
Section 2
The Market Revolution
Setting the Scene
• July 4, 1826
– 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
– on that day, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both
passed away
An Expanding Economy
• Market Revolution – change
in the way Americans made,
bought, and sold goods
• The Rise of Manufacturing
– manufacturing – making of
products by machinery
• rivers helped to supply the
power
• Francis Cabot Lowell – created
the first truly centralized textile
factory in the world; where all
tasks involved in making a
product were carried out in one
place
• The Free Enterprise System
– economic system characterized by private or corporate
ownership of capital goods; investments that are
determined by private decision rather than by state
control; and determined in a free market
• capitalism – rewards people who can find better, faster, and
more efficient ways of running their businesses
– encourages the creation of new industries, jobs, and wealth
– as products became available and people worked for
money, Americans began to shop
• The Rise of the
Banking Industry
– capital – wealth that
can be invested to
produce goods and
make money
• businesses used
capital to buy land or
to invest in moneymaking projects
– banks provided the
capital
• bank made money by
charging interest for
the loans it made
• unlike today the
government did not
require banks to keep
a certain amount of
cash on hand
– banks sometimes
lacked the cash to give
to depositors who
wanted to withdraw
money
• 1. this would then
cause a panic – where
people rush to the
banks to get their
money out before the
banks went broke
• 2. caused wild booms
and followed by
panics, bank failures,
and depressions
• Bank Notes
– bank note was a piece of paper that banks issued to
their customers
• similar to checks today, it was a promise to pay specie
(coins of gold or silver) on demand
• unfortunately the value of this money was unpredictable
The Northern Economy
• Northwest Farming,
Northeast Industry
– Old Northwest – ideal for
growing corn, wheat, and
other grains
– Northeast – worked in
factories
– Industrialization – growth of
industry
• Lowell, Massachusetts
– hired young, unmarried women
from New England farms
– provided boarding houses; worked
six days a week, twelve hours a
day, tending the machines
• The Rise of Labor Unions
– most factory owners paid
their employees little and
did not provide benefits
such as housing or food
– only real weapon of
workers was a strike – or
work stoppage
– labor union – organization
of workers formed to
protect their interests,
usually by negotiating to
resolve issues such as
wages and working
conditions
• National Trades Union (NTU)
– first national labor union
The Southern Economy
• A Rural Economy
– South remained
mostly a rural
region of farms and
countryside
• fertile soil, plentiful
rain, and 200 to 290
frost-free days in
which to grow crops
– cotton, tobacco,
sugar, breeding of
thoroughbred
horses
• The Slavery System
– Constitution specified that Congress could not end
the slave trade before 1808
• that year, they banned the further importation of slaves
• continued population growth among people already
enslaved, led to a dramatic increase
• Slave Revolts
– rebellions, especially on a
large scale, stood little
chance of success
• Denmark Vesey – plotted to
seize the city of Charleston;
troops smashed the rebellion
before it could get started
– Vesey and thirty-four others
were hung
• Nat Turner – carried out a
violent uprising known as
Turner’s Rebellion, led up to
70 slaves in raids on white
families in southeastern
Virginia, killing some 57 white
people
– local militia captured most of
the rebels and hung about 20
of the slaves, including Turner
The Rise of Nationalism
• economic differences
between the North and
South would place
great strains on the
nations unity
• Americans began
thinking of themselves
as belonging to a
country under a
national government,
instead of an
association of states
under separate
governments
• Nationalism at Home
– three key decisions strengthened
the federal government
• 1. McCulloch v. Maryland – Congress
did not have the authority to charter
the bank, supporting the national
bank
• 2. Dartmouth College v. Woodward
– court barred New Hampshire from
changing the charter of Dartmouth
College, states cannot interfere in
such contracts
• 3. Gibbons v. Ogden – federal
government’s right to regulate
commerce on interstate waterways
• Nationalism Abroad
– Rush-Bagot Agreement – US and Great Britain
agreed to reduce the number of warships in the
Great Lakes region
• and agreed to extend the northern border of the
United States westward along 49°N latitude from Lake
of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains
• Monroe Doctrine
• 1. the United States would not
get involved in the internal
affairs of European countries
not take sides in wars among
them
• 2. America recognized the
existing colonies and states in
the Western Hemisphere and
would not interfere with them
• 3. America would not permit
further colonization of the
Western Hemisphere
• 4. America would view any
attempt by a European power
to control any nation in the
Western Hemisphere as a
hostile action
The Rise of Opposition Parties
• The Election of 1824
– House of Representatives
voted to decide the election,
Henry Clay managed to
swing Kentucky’s votes to
John Quincy Adams giving
him the victory
• called a “corrupt bargain”
• New Political Parties
Emerge
– National Republicans and
Jeffersonian Democrats
• in the next election Jackson
trounced JQ Adams
The Presidency of Andrew Jackson
• Jackson was the first
president from west of
the Appalachian
Mountains
• The Spoils System
– for many years, newly
elected officials had
given government jobs to
friends and supporters
(patronage)
– spoils system – spoils, or
loot taken from a
conquered enemy, were
jobs for party supporters
• Limited Government
– Jackson used his veto
power to restrict
federal activity as
much as possible,
rejecting more acts of
Congress than the six
previous Presidents
combined
• The Tariff Crisis
– Congress passed a high tariff to discourage foreign
imports and encourage American manufacturing
• benefited the industrial North but forced southerners
to pay higher prices for manufactured goods
– called it the “Tariff of Abominations”
– South Carolina said that states had the right to
judge when the federal government had exceeded
its authority and states could nullify or reject,
federal laws they judged to be unconstitutional
– were promoting the power of states rights – powers
that the Constitution neither gives to the federal
government nor denies to the states (state
sovereignty)
• said that because states created the federal government,
they have the right to nullify its acts and even secede – or
withdraw from the Union if they wish to do so
– South Carolina declared the tariffs null and void, and threatened to
secede if its nullification was not respected
– Jackson passed the Force Bill – made it difficult for
South Carolina to block federal collection of the tariff
– crisis eased when Congress reduced some of the
import duties and South Carolina canceled its
nullification act
• but they turned around and nullified the Force Bill just to
show they could
• Indian Relocation
– Indian Removal Act – authorized Jackson to give Native
Americans land in parts of the Louisiana Purchase in
exchange for lands taken from them in the East
• forcibly relocated about 100,000 members of the Five Tribes
– Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole
• received 32 million acres of prairie land for 100 million acres
of their cultivated land
– Worcester v. Georgia – ruled that Georgia had no
authority over Cherokee territory
• GA just ignored the ruling and Jackson refused to enforce it
– Trail of Tears – 15,000 Cherokees; men, women, and
children – most on foot – began a 116 day forced march
westward
• one out of every four died of cold or disease on the journey
• The Bank War
– Bank of the United States could only operate until 1836
unless Congress issued it a new charter
• Jackson vetoed the bill
• Jackson’s Successors
– next president, Martin van Buren (8th) was not as popular,
faced by panics in 1837 and 1839
– William Henry Harrison (9th) elected in 1840 served only
one month before he died of pneumonia
– John Tyler (10th) his Vice President took over
Section 3
Religion and Reform
Setting the Scene
• young cities began to experience growing pains such
as poverty, alcoholism, illiteracy, overcrowded
housing, poor healthcare, and abuse of women
• powerful reform movements to address these
problems began to take shape
The Roots of Reform: Religion and
Philosophy
Protestant
Revivalists
– central figure in the revivalist movement was Charles
Grandison Finney – emphasized individuals’ power to
reform themselves
– Lyman Beecher – taught in simple terms that good
people would make a good country
• The Transcendentalists
– group of philosophers and writers who rejected
traditional religion
– centered in Concord, Massachusets
– transcendentalism – believed spiritual discovery and
insight would lead a person to truths more profound
than could be reached through reason
• declared that humans are naturally good and rejected
outward rituals and group worship in favor of private, inward
searching
• Emerson and Thoreau
– Ralph Waldo Emerson - leader of the Transcendental
movement; was a lecturer and writer who became one
of America’s greatest thinkers
– Henry David Thoreau – friend of Emerson who lived a
solitary life of thinking, reading, writing, and observing
nature
• Walden, or Life in the Woods
Reform Movements
• The Temperance Movement
– campaign to eliminate alcohol consumption
• believed it made people lose control
– abstinence – refraining from doing something
• wanted to ban the manufacture and sale of all alcoholic
beverages; some states passed these laws, but protests by
brewers, distillers, and other citizens soon led to the repeal
of most of these laws
• Public Education
– working-class and middleclass citizens began to
demand tax-supported
schools
• only white male students
were welcome at most
universities
– girls were discouraged from
attending or were taught
only to read or write
– schools excluded free black
students or placed them in
separate, inferior schools
• a handful of black colleges
were founded during this
period
• Reforming Prisons
– many states built prisons rather than punish criminals by
branding them or putting them on display in public stocks
– had hoped prisoners would use their jail time to reflect
on their sins and become law-abiding citizens
– Dorothea Dix – visited jails and spent two years visiting
every prison in Massachusetts to improve prisons and
create separate facilities for the mentally ill
• led 15 other states to build mental hospitals
• Utopian Communities
– small societies dedicated to perfection in social
and political conditions
The Antislavery Movement
CHRISTIAN
SANTULAN
• abolitionist movement – movement to end slavery,
started by a group of free African Americans and
whites
– from 1774 to 1804 every state north of Maryland passed
laws that gradually abolished slavery
– all importation of slaves to the US ended in 1808
• The Colonization of Liberia
– program to send free blacks and emancipated (freed)
slaves to Africa
• American Colonization Society (1817) – established Liberia
– name taken from liberty
– plan offended most African Americans, who wanted to
improve their lives in their homeland, the United
States, not on a faraway continent
• William Lloyd Garrison
– founded the American Anti-Slavery
Society
– more and more middle-class white
northerners began to support the
immediate end of slavery
• Frederick Douglass
– born into slavery,
Douglass escaped
north and became
an agent of the
American AntiSlavery Society
– autobiography Life
and Times of
Frederick Douglass
sold thousands of
copies and is still
read today
• Divisions Among
Abolitionists
– Sojourner Truth – an
African American and
former slave
• took that name because
she believed her life’s
mission was to sojourn; or
“travel up and down the
land”, preaching the truth
about God at revival
meetings
– Liberty Party (1840) –
drew off enough support
to give James K. Polk the
presidential seat in 1840
• The Underground
Railroad
– network of escape
routes that provided
protection and
transportation for
slaves fleeing north
to freedom
• railroad referred to
the paths that African
Americans traveled,
either on foot or in
wagons, across the
North-South border
and finally into
Canada, where slavehunters could not go
• underground meant
that the operation
was carried out in
secret, usually on
dark nights in deep
woods
• conductors acted as guides
– most famous conductor was Harriet Tubman – she made
frequent trips to the South, rescuing more than 300
slaves and gaining the nickname “the Black Moses”
• Resistance to
Abolitionism
– 1836 – Southerners
in Congress
succeeded in passing
the so-called gag
rule, which for the
next eight years
prohibited
antislavery petitions
from being read or
acted upon in the
House
Women’s Changing Roles
• Private and Public Roles
– most people believed
that women should
remain in the home
– despite the increasing
number of women
working outside the
home, women generally
could not keep the
money they earned
• Fighting for Abolition
– parallels between the plight of
enslaved African Americans
and the status of women
– Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
– Harriet Ann Jacobs – Incidents
in the Life of a Slave Girl
– Sojourner Truth – The
Narrative of Sojourner Truth
• A Convention for
Women’s Rights
– 1848 Lucretia Mott and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton –
held the first women’s
rights convention in
United States history at
Seneca Falls, New York
– Seneca Falls Convention
– passed resolutions
protesting the lack of
legal and political rights
for women and urging
women to demand these
rights
• including suffrage – the
right to vote
– was the beginning of the
organized movement for
women’s rights and
women’s suffrage in the
United States
• The Role of African American Women
– for most African American women, the abolition
of slavery was a more pressing issue than
women’s rights
Growing Social Divisions
• nation was becoming more diverse
• Rising Immigration
– demand for cheap labor in factories and in the
building of canals and railroad lines
• immigrants from Germany and Ireland
• Tensions Over Immigration
– discrimination – unequal treatment of a group of people
because of their nationality, race, sex, or religion
– anti-immigrant citizens formed the American Republican
Party - favored requiring immigrants to live in the United
States for 21 years before being eligible for citizenship
• North-South Tensions
– Southerners bitterly resented abolitionists efforts to
prevent the spread of slavery and to shelter escaped
slaves
– personal honor was particularly important in the South
– call for public schools disturbed many Southerners who
depended on their children for farm labor
– South saw no need to reform their society; families
held fast to their traditional family roles