Chapter 7
Life in the New Nation
Section 1
Learning Targets
• I can list the major reasons why the nation’s population became
larger and younger between 1780 and 1830
• I can describe the westward movement of white and African
American pioneers to west of the Appalachians
• I can explain how Native Americans were forced west of the
Mississippi
A Growing and Young Nation
• In 1830 there were around 12 million people in the United States – it
was around 2.7 in 1780
• Immigration did not play a very big role in the increase (10 %)
• African slave population also slowed due to a law which made it
illegal to import slaves
• Between 1800-1849 the average woman had five children
• The population boom is also impressive due to the high infant
mortality rate (rate at which infants, babies less than 1 year old, die)
• 1800’s this rate was around 130 per 1000 births or 13% because of
inability to treat illnesses
Pioneers Move West
• Many people moved to trans-Appalachia (the area west of the
Appalachian Mountains)
• They would come with their entire family and have to build a home
and raise a crop to eat with small hand tools
Daniel Boone
• In 1775, the Transylvania Company employed Boone to created the
Wilderness Road (a road from eastern Tennessee to Louisville used as
the main road to trans-Appalachia)
• He was a member of the Kentucky state legislature
• Boone died in Missouri as a famous and tough pioneer
Florida
• Florida belonged to Spain at this time (we had AL, MS and LA)
• We had agreed to Pinkney Treaty (treaty with the Spanish that made
the southern boundary of the US)
-Southern boundary was 31 degrees N, giving Spain Florida
-US citizens could use the Mississippi River through Florida
-Each country would control NAs living in their territory
Florida
• Spanish rebellions in South America took all their attention and the NAs in the US
began to raid Georgia
• Andrew Jackson was selected to end the problem and did in a few short weeks
• He told President Monroe in a note that “the possession of Florida would be
desirable and it will happen in 60 days”
• The Spanish were outraged but President Monroe said they broke Pinkney’s
Treaty
• The Spanish did not argue due to the fighting in South America and signed a
treaty with the US for Florida
• Adams-Onis Treaty (treaty where Spain ceded Florida to the US) was signed
where Spain ceded (gave up) Florida and the Pacific Northwest to the US.
• The US ceded a part of Texas to the Spanish
Native Americans Forced West
• NAs were constantly forced west due to signing treaties
• During the move many died due to disease from the whites
• Many NA groups fought to keep their culture
• The Cherokee was a NA group that began to blend white culture with
their own
-They created a legal system and a government
-They began owning private property instead of community property
-Had slaves
• This only slowed the whites from wanting their land