THE NEW WEST AND
FREE NORTH
1840-1860
Chapter 12
Land
• The westward movement allowed people to arrive on
the prairie, and did not have to clear forests to farm
• Federal land policy made land available to millions of
ordinary people, increasing agricultural productivity
• Government land policy also enriched speculators
who bought up large tracts and resold at a markup
• Invention of implements
John Deere’s steel plow
Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper
Mechanization
• Manufacturers could produce more with less labor
• “American System” of manufacturing and assembling
interchangeable parts spread from gun-making to
other enterprises
• Standardized parts allowed manufacturers to employ
unskilled labor who were cheaper and more plentiful
that other skilled craftsmen
Manufacturing + Agriculture
•
Manufacturing and Agriculture meshed
into a dynamic national economy,
•
New England focused on
manufacturing mostly for domestic
markets
•
Southern and Western states growing
and producing wheat, port, whiskey,
tobacco, and cotton
Railroads
• By 1850, 9,000 miles of track, mostly in New England
and mid-Atlantic states
Railroads a boost to economy
• Railroads demanded and
grew coal and iron industries
• Stimulated the telegraph
industry: by 1861, 50,000
miles of wire along the tracks
• Almost all railroads were
owned and built by private
corporations, although aided
by large federal land grants
American Economy
•
The railroad boom of the 1850s
and growing industrial might of
the American economy linking
farms and cities, the expanding
populations moved westward.
Labor
•Free labor ideal emphasizes hard work,
self-reliance, and independence
•Many people left out
•Millions of immigrants entered the US in
the 1840s and 1850s (Germany and
Ireland)
Manifest Destiny
Expansion justified
•Manifest Destiny: term coined in 1845 by
New York journalist John L. O’Sullivan
•Most Americans believed the superiority
of their institutions and white culture
bestowed on them a God-given right to
spread their civilization across the
continent
•A combination of national pride, racial
arrogance, and economic gain
The Way West
Oregon and Overland Trail
•Both Britain and the US claimed the Oregon
territory but beginning in 1818, the two
agreed to leave the territory open to settlers
from both in ‘joint occupation’
•Emigrants encountered both agricultural
Indians, and nomadic warrior tribes, these
contributed to the image of ‘savage Indian’
Fort Laramie Conference
•Emigrants on the trails west insisted on
federal government protection
•In 1851, the government adopted a new
policy of Indian concentration and
persuaded chiefs to sign agreements to
clear a wide corridor for the wagon
trains
•Difficulties for women on the trail and
upon arrival
Mormon Exodus
•New York to Ohio to Nauvoo, Illinois
•1844 mob kills founder Joseph Smith
and his brother
•Brigham Young leads the Mormons
from Illinois to the Great Salt Lake
Mormon War
•In 1850 the Mormon Kingdom is annexed
by the US as the Utah territory
•Federal troops invade Salt Lake City to
eradicate polygamy
Mexico and Texas
Austin
•The Mexican
government wanted
to populate and
develop its northern
territory and granted
the American
Stephen F. Austin a
huge tract of land in
Texas
Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
•Thousands of
Americans poured
into Texas bringing
cotton and slaves
with them
•1830, Mexican
government sought
to halt further
immigration by
outlawing slavery
• Anglo settlers felt Santa
Anna tyrannized them
The Alamo
• Texas settlers, including
David Crockett and
James Bowie took
refuge in an old
Franciscan mission, the
Alamo. All 187 rebels
were killed by Santa
Anna’s troops
numbering about 2,000.
Independent Republic of Texas
• 1836, Sam Houston’s
army crushed Santa
Anna’s troops and
declared an independent
republic
• the following year, the
US recognized Texas’
independence from
Mexico
Election of 1844 and annexation
• 1845, Texas admitted, after fierce debate as the
fifteenth slave state
Beginning of 19th century
By 1860
General Winfield Scott
• Hero of the Mexican
War, nominated for
President over
incumbent Millard
Fillmore in 1852. He lost
to Franklin Pierce.
1848
•Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
•Discovery of Gold in California
•Oneida Community organized
•Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention
•Fox Sisters
•US Presidential Election (Zachary Taylor)
Transcendentalists
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau
Transcendentalists
•believed that individuals should conform
neither to the materialistic world nor to
the dogma of formal religion;
•people should look within themselves for
truth and guidance
Utopian Communities
•Onieda Community
(New York) believed
in economic and
sexual communalism,
and were ostracized
by mainstream but
lasted until long after
the Civil War
Seneca Falls
•1848, 100 reformers led by
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
gathered at Seneca Falls, New York for the
first national women’s rights convention in
the US
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments
•Bill of women’s
rights as written at
the first women’s
rights convention
in US history.
Fox Sisters
Abolitionists: Black and White
Frederick Douglas
Harriet Tubman