Chapter 9

Nation Building and Nationalism

Life in the 1820s was very different from that of the 1780s and 1790s

Lafayette noticed this when he visited in 1824 Then on 4 July 1826, the 50th anniversary of

the Declaration of Independence, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died

The old world was ending and a new one beginning

Population

Between 1760 and 1880, our population grew by 1290%

Our population had doubled every 23 years European population doubled every 100

years We can attribute this to both natural increase

and immigration There was a baby boom right after the

revolution

Availability of land encouraged men and women to marry young

The more children one had, the more hands there were to work the land

As fewer children died during childhood, parents started to limit the size of their families

By 1830, 1/3 of the population was under the age of 10

Immigration also caused a rise in population U.S. ideals seemed to promote immigration

Asylum for the oppressed All were welcome Some came for political reasons Others came for economic reasons Citizenship only given to whites, mostly

Europeans

James Monroe

During his presidency, land was peacefully acquired

This land offered new opportunities to those willing to move

He served 2 terms, 1816 – 1824

Monroe’s time in office was known as the “Era of Good Feelings”

Monroe was a A Virginian Eccentric in dress Successful as president Had political good luck Got to preside over the calm before the next

storm John Quincy Adams was his Sec. of State

John Quincy Adams

Son of John and Abigail Adams Diplomat to Russia Senator Later became the 6th president of the United

States After the presidency, he bacame a member of

the House of Representatives Brilliantly successful as Secretary of State Strove for peaceful expansion

J.Q.A.’s Accomplishments

Gained political distance from Europe by acquiring territory from Spain

Gained fishing rights in the Atlantic Got land through negotiation, not war

Rush-Bagot Treaty, 1817 An agreement with Britain to limit Great Lakes

Naval Forces; 1st disarmament treaty

Convention of 1818 Fixed the U.S. – Canadian border west to the

Rocky Mountains at the 49th parallel

Adams-Onis Treaty or the Transcontinental Treaty, 1819 Spain ceded Florida to The U.S. for $5 million It defined the southern border of the Louisiana

purchase It gave the U.S. territorial claims extending to

the Pacific Map, p. 257

Monroe Doctrine, 1823 Written by John Quincy Adams Issued in response to the independence of

Latin American republics Initially, Britain made a proposal for joint action

with U.S.; Adams rejected this insisting that U.S. must act independently to avoid foreign entanglements

Announced by Monroe in his last message to Congress

Monroe said there was to be no more colonization of the Western Hemisphere by European nations

There was to be no intervention by Europe in the affairs of the independent New World nations

This was to be the foundation of American foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere

We weren’t really strong enough in in 1823 to enforce this

Missouri Compromise

In 1819 the question of slavery was brought before the Congress when Missouri asked to be admitted to the Union as a slave state

At this time, there were 22 states in the Union 11 states were free : Massachusetts,

Connecticut, Rhode Island Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, & Illinois

11 states were slave : Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, & Louisiana

Political balance had been kept by admitting alternately from 1802 – 1819, a slave and then a free state

Even with the 3/5 ratio operating in the slave states’ favor, they only had 81 votes in the House of Representatives; free states had105

And the population of the North seemed to be growing faster than that in the South

To preserve sectional balance, the South looked to its equal vote in the Senate

February, 1819, when the House was considering admitting Missouri to the Union as a slave state, Representative James Tallmadge, Jr. of New York offered an amendment

The amendment prohibited the further introduction of slaves into Missouri and provided for the emancipation at age 25 of all slave offspring born after Missouri became a state

There was bitter debate The House passed the Tallmadge

Amendment The Senate struck it from the Missouri bill

Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine was then admitted as a free state to keep the balance; it was then 12 free, 12 slave

Slavery was then forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Territory north of 36 degrees, 30’ latitude of Missouri’s southern border

Map, p. 273

Settlement

Many wished to settle in all this new territory It was generally thought that Native

Americans would have to be displaced As a result of military defeats, there were only

small pockets of Indians in the Ohio Valley and in the N.W. Territories

Many Native Americans had already moved west of the Mississippi

The last stand of Indians in this region was from 1831-1832 when the Sac and Fox Indians under Chief Black Hawk refused to move from their lands east of the Mississippi

They were pushed west to the river’s edge where they were almost exterminated by federal troops & the Illinois militia while trying to cross and go west; they were doomed

The federal government used a combination of deception, bribery, and threats to get the Indians to move further west

Settlers poured in By 1840, 1/3 of Americans lived beyond the

Appalachians Many bought land for $1.25 per acre People moved in groups looking for

something familiar

Mountain men like Kit Carson, Jedidiah Smith, and Jim Beckwourth struck out on their own; pictures, p. 258

Mountain men would meet up with Native Americans and company agents at a Rendezvous in Pinedale, Wyoming to trade furs in exchange for food, ammunition, and needed goods

There was a growing need for more food to feed those in the ever-growing cities

So transportation needed to be improved: roads, railroads, & canals

These resulted from the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

Did more than just change the way products were made

Changed people’s jobs, how they lived, and what they used in their daily lives

Changed transportation systems and created towns

Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in 1764 when new machines were invented and introduced

Spinning Jenny -- by James Hargreaves in 1764; used for spinning yarn but of poor quality

Water Frame -- by Richard Arkwright; spun multiple strands of yarn at one time; was of higher quality

Steam Engine -- by James Watts; used to power the inventions so water power was no longer necessary

Spinning Jenny

Water frame

Steam engine

By early 1800s, most spinning was being done in factories called “safe houses”

Britain tried to keep their technology secret, but British immigrants brought their knowledge to the U.S. Samuel Slater in 1790 started the first textile

mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Industry really didn’t take hold until we were cut off from imported goods during the War of 1812

Francis Cabot Lowell and the Boston Associates set up industry in Massachusetts after visiting Britain in 1811

Lowell felt the U.S. could set up a better system of factories

They eventually did in Lowell, Lawrence, and Chicopee, Massachusetts; used Mill Girls

U.S. was a good place for industry

We had a shortage of labor and machines could do the work of several men

We had natural resources: rivers, streams, & coal

We had investors We had inventors and inventions:

Cyrus McCormick and his reaper Samuel F.B. Morse and the telegraph, 1832 Charles Goodyear & vulcanized rubber,1844 Eli Whitney and his interchangeable parts

We improved transportation to get raw materials to the factories and the finished goods to market

We created railroads, roads, and canals Our rivers ran mainly north to south We needed routes from east to west So the Erie Canal was built in New York

1817-1825 Artificial water route, 364 miles long

It connected Buffalo to Albany and the Hudson River, then on to New York City

End result was an unbroken water route from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes

The canal cut transportation costs It also cut the time involved from 26 days to 6

days

Other canals were built, like the C & O that connects Washington, D.C. with Cumberland, but it wasn’t as successful

Railroads

Began in Britain in 1825 Soon after track were also laid in America By 1830s, builders laid 3,000 lines of track By 1860s, there were 30,000 miles of track Railroads were more reliable than waterways

– no freezing But there were some problems

Different gauge track (different sizes) Railroad bridges took long time to build

Roads --- National Road (Rt. 40) Wherever one found roads, railroads, or

canals, towns would spring up If a town was bypassed, then that town would

probably become a ghost town Immigrants often supplied the labor for the

building of these roads, railroads, and canals Irish – sometimes the only job open to them Chinese – not many job choices open to them

Classes

Distinct classes began forming Upper Class – lived away from factories and

town centers, belonged to clubs, and had indoor plumbing

Working Class – lived near factories and made low wages

There was a new class emerging, the Middle Class Salesmen, clerks, bookkeepers, accountants,

& other white collar workers

The middle class gave hope to the working class

One could work his way up the ladder of success: Through education Moving west for new opportunities Through the lyceum movement Libraries MuseumsLife was changing; the old world was gone