History of America
America was discovered in 1492 by the Spanish. Since then Americans have faced many difficulties. America arose to a position, at which it is today, by a lot of hard work and determination of most of its leaders. American history is enriched with a series of events taking place at different times. In the late 1700s to the mid 1800s its leaders such as Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and so on worked towards developing America and making it a better state. Following are some of the events which took place during this time period.
Federalists were against Jefferson. As quoted by Jefferson, “I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.” This would bring bloodshed and chaos in the US and finally the beginning of the French Revolution. On the other hand in force of democratic republic theory John Adams (picture on the left) signed Alien and Sedition Act in 1798. They were: the neutralization act, The Alien Act, The Alien Enemic Act, The Sedition Act. These acts were controversial and created opposition from Jefferson and Democratic Republic. In 1798-1799 Virginia and Kentucky resolves were passed to protest Alien and Sedition Acts. Friendship with Jefferson began resulting in the first constitutional convention. They along with Franklin created trade agreement. Election in 1800 between John Adams and Jefferson took place. They both competed with the same thought that victory of one would ruin the nation. As Quoted by John Adams, “The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that and all the glory of it.” The following map shows the results of the elections between Adams and Jefferson in 1800 and 1804.
James Peale was a capable painter who painted a number of still arts during the late 1700s. His portrait, as shown below, consisting of himself and his family members shows his skill and interest in painting landscapes, which was not done by artists of that time period.
This small family portrait became well known in London during the mid eighteenth century. James was among the first one to bring up women as artists as he educated his daughters more in his field as his only son showed little interest. His teachings resulted in creating fine women artists who also developed masterpieces to develop American arts.
The Library of Congress was founded by an Act of the Congress in the 1800. This library would be solely for the use of Congress and would contain books important for them. British Troops burnt down this library during August 1814, as shown in the picture on the left. All the contents were lost. To replace the contents President Thomas Jefferson offered his 50 years of collection of books, which gave a good number of content to the library. After the acceptance of Jefferson’s proposal the foundation of the New National Library was placed in January 1815. All copy writes of the material provided was collected by Ainsworth Rand Spofford, which helped increase the library content and hence resulted in building a new and a more beautiful library, which can be visited in the present day.
The war of 1812 was declared on June 18. Britain created problems for America so that they would not be able to trade with the French. Britain put forth a blockage to naval ships and stopping the trade. The following map on the left shows the area where the blockage took place.
Britain captured ships that went across from America for trade purposes and made the sailors their prisoners, and made them work for their ships. The picture above on the right shows the British navy taking American soldiers into captivity.
The British also made buddies of the local Americans living in these areas and encouraged the Indian tribe to attack the Americans who were coming and settling in these areas. The picture on the left shows how the Indian tribes acted towards the Americans and served the British. . In 1810 these attacks of the Indians, which were supported by the British, became a feud mainly with the Potawatomi and Shawnee tribes. Following is the picture of Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet, who was the leader of Shawnee.
Tecumseh’s tribe lost the battle of Tippecanoe, hence he still continued to remain partners with the British, who still continued to supply them with the weapons to use to fight and save their land.
After waiting for peace and settlement for many years, finally on June 18th, 1812 United States affirmed battle on Britain, which caused harm to both the parties. The picture on the left shows the ships of Britain and United states at war in 1812. To end the war a contract known as the Treaty of Ghent was signed by the British and Americans, which consisted of putting an end to the British capturing American sailors. General Andrew Jackson brought victory in the war at New Orleans. This created a flow of American Nationalism. The British and American have never fought after signing the Treaty of Ghent.
John Adams says all complexities, uncertainty, and sufferings in America arose not from imperfection in their constitution and confederation and neither from desire of reputation nor desirable quality but it were because of total unawareness of the nature of coins, credit and circulations. “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” These words were spoken by James Madison in his speech in the Constitutional Convention in July 11, 1787. Madison was the one who drafted constitution in order to improve the flaws of the Articles of Confederation. He was a determined and influential ally of freedom. He wanted to distribute power evenly such that the party in majority should not have any hold on a minority. Madison supported the minority considering them the ones being crushed, but here he was wrong. The minorities got more advantages from the government than the majorities. His close friendship with Thomas Jefferson (picture shown above) helped him in developing the constitution. To support the balance of powers he said, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Federalist no. 51, February 6, 1788. Furthermore the Treaty of Ghent was also signed by Madison, as mentioned above.
In 1818 after the revolution the United States was divided into 22 states and there was a conflict between slaver and freedom. Among the 22 states, 11 were Free states and 11 were slave states. Hence a legislation passed by the senate had equal power. The Free states were in the majority so they controlled the House of Representatives. James Tallmadge in February 1819 proposed a ban on slavery in Missouri. Hence the spread of slavery found new territories and states. Livermore from Hampshire a representative objected fellowmen being held in jail. Slavery had become an integrated part of life and culture in the South and demanded that the North should also have rights of slaves as mentioned in the constitution. Finally on March 3rd 1820, Senator Henry Clay (picture shown below) “the great pacificator,” of Kentucky arranged the Missouri Compromise, and hence brought in great changes and was able to set up an agreement with the Congress that the slave Missouri and a free Maine should have a balance in power. The agreement also emphasized the freedom of the Louisiana purchased territory would be below the line of slavery. This was the southern boundary of Missouri which would remain free. This agreement is known as Missouri compromise. The following map shows the division of states after the Missouri Compromise.
American history is augmented with a series of events, which took place one after the other, hindering progress and helping in improving American policies. The study of the history of American helps us understand the difficulties and relate the issues in the present days with those of the past. Studying the history also helps us understand how the people and societies of the past lived and worked, and hence learn from their mistakes. Studying the past helps us improve the present as well as the future. For example studying about the War of 1812 helps understand its effects so as Americans we can try not to repeat these in future, also the event shows the destructions of that time, which lead to retarding the advancement of the people of that time. Hence we must always peep into the past, detect the good and bad, and that which can destroy our prosperity and find the proper path so that our future is bright and prosperous.
Works Cited
“Events Leading to the War of 1812”. Lessonsnips.com. Web. April 28th, 2012. <http://www.lessonsnips.com/docs/pdf/warof1812events.pdf >
Eisert, Kevin. “Secession Crisis”. Bluegrass.net. Web. April 28th, 2012. <http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/secessioncrisis/200303.html >
“James Madison Facts”. Revolutionary War and Beyond. Web. April 28th, 2012. <http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/facts-about-james-madison.html >
Samples, John. “James Madison’s Vision of Liberty”. Cato.org. April 2001. Web. April 28th, 2012. < http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v23n2/madison.pdf >
