During the early XIX century, fundamental changes in social, political, economic, religious, and educational spheres took place. What is more, the territory of the US continued to grow rapidly. After 1776, there were 13 colonies along the eastern coastline. In 1821, 11 more colonies ‘from Maine to Louisiana’ appeared (ushistory.org 22). Traditionally, historians differentiated northern, southern and middle divisions together with Appalachian Mountains. Within this historical period, the processes taking place in eastern, western and southern lands considerably influenced the development of the country. The states along the eastern seaboard were divided into 4 regions: New England (Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island), the Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey), the Chesapeake (Virginia, Delaware, Maryland), and the Lower South (Georgia, the Carolinas). The Western lands were divided into Border Area (Tennessee, Kentucky), the Old Northwest (Indiana, Ohio, Illinois), Trans-Mississippi River West (Louisiana, Missouri), and the Old Southwest (Alabama and Mississippi) (ushistory.org 22a). Such a fast geographical growth favored the further political development and lead to drastic “economic and religious changes” (ushistory.org 22). For the northern states, it was a period of industrialization, when new factories and ingenious innovations appeared. As a result, the production of goods increased, and a good transportation system was required. The number of roads, bridges, canals, and railroads started to grow amazingly. What is more, the changes in the social sphere occurred by means of changing the attitude towards women. Now, women started to work in the factories, and their social roles grew. What concerned the southern and western regions, they were agricultural territories, which delivered raw materials to the northern states. As there was a greater demand for raw materials, especially linen, slavery started to flourish again. On the one hand, the development of foreign trade influenced the development of the country’s economy. On the other hand, southern and western counties were in need of a greater workforce, therefore, an enormous number slaves have been delivered from Africa. It was a tragedy for those people because they were treated unfair, were forced to work 6 days per week, and were not considered as human beings at all. However, industrialization took place in the southern and western regions as well; application of such inventions as cotton gin helped increase the productivity several times as much and demanded less human effort.
The main changes taking place in the first half of the XIX century were as following: western expansion resulting in not only economic development, but also in racial conflicts, Industrial revolution, and ‘the development of American Protestantism in the Second Great Awakening” (ushistory,org 23).
One of the greatest episodes of the US history of the first half of the XIX is the presidency of Andrew Jackson from 1829 till 1837, who came from the western region. He is well-known for his “absolute acceptance of the majority rule” (ushistory.org 23), although his political views have been quite controversial because of the biased attitude towards women and slaves. Still, religious, economic, and geographic changes which took place during his presidency were drastic. Thus, the Second Party System appeared; it let people choose between several parties. Religious changes were characterized by the appearance of many religious movements, which let not only the whites but also the slaves and other immigrants understand and interpret religion in their own way. The new views on freedom and virtue appeared, emphasizing the significance of the human beings.
The greatest changes took place in the geographical sphere, known as western expansion. There were several reasons why people were moving westwards. First of all, it was the place “reserved for pioneers” (ushistory.org 23c). The territories expanded, and many immigrants occupied new territories of the country. Secondly, the new western states had inclusive voting rights for the whites, where property was not the requirement to have a right to vote. Furthermore, a new type of man was presented – a common, brave man, who was into agriculture. Education was not obligatory there, as people in this region belonged to the working class. Finally, a great number of the Native Americans had to move to the western states because of the Andrew Jackson’s policy that did not accept the right of the Native Americans for their own land. This movement is also known as the Trail of Tears. What is more, slavery became more and more entrenched, as there was a growing need for the workforce.
The territory of the United States continued to expand further to the west. In the first half of the XIX century, the state of Texas, which “was greatly in interest of Mexico,” was settled by American pioneers (ushistory.org 29a). The American settlers could become Mexican on condition that they become Catholic and will accept the fact that slavery is already outlawed on this territory. However, these conditions were not met, and it led to severe cultural war. However, Americans continued to flock to Texas, and, as a result, in several years “most Mexican-Americans wanted to be annexed by the US” (ushistory.org). As the Congress “admitted Texas to the Union in a joint resolution, Mexico was outraged” (ushistory.org), as they understood that it would be almost impossible to get their territory back. It should be said that the nature of US – Mexican relations was mainly because of the territorial issues. The United States wanted to expand their territories up to the Pacific Ocean, thus having a trade route to the Far East. “The Mexican borderlands turned out to be directly in a path of the growing US” (youtube.com). The main way US territory grew was through purchasing lands from other nations. They decided to act in the same way with Mexico. The US government simply wanted to buy their territories. However, the Mexican government was outraged at such an offer, and the conflict between the states became even more serious, finally resulting in war. The war between two neighboring countries lasted 2 years (1846 to 1848) and finally ended with the fact that nearly half of the territory of Mexico was in the possession of USA: California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah (youtube.com). It is astonishing that the USA has managed to conquer such a huge territory and rule over it successfully.
It must be admitted that during the first part of the XIX century enormous transformations in economic, political, and social spheres took place. The country government already had a goal – to expand their territory and to be an independent and a competitive country.
Works Cited
“The Best Documentary about the 1846 – 1848 U.S. – Mexican War. Part 1.” YouTube, 12 March. 2013. Web. 12 March. 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9k3hJOlOiY
“Ushistory.org.” U.S. History Online Book. PBS Online, 2016. Web. 12 March, 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/us/22.asp
“Ushistory.org.” U.S. History Online Book. PBS Online, 2016. Web. 12 March, 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/us/22a.asp
“Ushistory.org.” U.S. History Online Book. PBS Online, 2016. Web. 12 March, 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/us/23.asp
“Ushistory.org.” U.S. History Online Book. PBS Online, 2016. Web. 12 March, 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/us/23c.asp
“Ushistory.org.” U.S. History Online Book. PBS Online, 2016. Web. 12 March, 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/us/29a.asp
