Three Challenges in America, 1820-1840
This report considers three main challenges facing the nation and its citizens during the 1820 to 1840 time period and offers reasons why these challenges were significant. Foner (356) indicates Andrew Jackson’s presidency highlighted several major developments, including: the expansion of democracy and nationalism, the westward expansion movement and the slavery issue.
During these two decades, American democracy and nationalism became more defined. The property requirement to vote eventually disappeared. “Democratic political institutions” became the hallmark of America’s identity that emphasized equality and individual initiative. However, based on assumptions about their character and abilities, women and non-white men (specifically blacks) were not allowed to participate. Race rather than class separated the nation and would eventually lead to secession (Foner 358-364). During this era, nationalistic pride grew but so did deficiencies in infrastructure, trade and currency stability. Economic panic occurred in 1819 and 1837 as the value of paper money declined rapidly and the legitimate role of a national bank was questioned; Jackson argued a national bank placed too much power and privilege in a few without public scrutiny; state and local banks soon dominated. Sectional interests soon overshadowed national interests. Party politics dominated national issues by 1840’s election (Foner 364-369, 388-392). The Monroe Doctrine guided U.S. foreign policy for almost 100 years and signalled U.S. resistance to European colonization in the Americas in exchange for no U.S. involvement in European affairs. Political parties began to dominate after the 1824 election and were considered a unifying factor for the nation. Local and personal freedom soon overshadowed national and public interests producing the “tariff of abominations” espousing states rights and eventual secession movements (Foner 372-373, 377-379, 381-384).
Westward expansion became a contentious controversy. Since the presidencies of Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, the U.S. expected to rely on federal rather than state regulations to absorb most of North America (Foner 376-377). Westward expansion spurred removal of Native American Indians from their ancestral lands and controversial court rulings that essentially eliminated Indian rights (Foner 385-388). Westward movement eventually became linked to slavery issues. The Missouri Compromise (1820) temporarily resolved questions about expansion of slavery by creating free and slave areas (Foner 370).
Slavery was a major controversy during these decades. It had become an established American institution by 1820, with 2.5 million blacks trapped in slavery in a soon-to-divided nation (Foner 397-398). The number and importance of U.S. slaves increased noticeably after the overseas cotton trade expanded, Eli Whitney introduced the cotton gin and the Southern textile markets expanded, all relying on a consistent slave labor force drawn from Eastern states to the fertile soil and burgeoning trading centers of the Deep South (Foner 398; “Slavery in America”). Democratic freedoms and the lives of all Americans, slave and free, were profoundly affected by 18th century slavery. Northern businesses reaped financial rewards and improved Northern fortunes on the backs of slaves (Foner 400). Although ¾ of Southern whites owned no slaves, slavery formed the foundation for the Old South’s economy, politics, “race relations . . . religion and the law.” Southern power was in the hands of those who owned no more than five slaves (Foner 401-404). A bitter fight emerged between those who claimed adherence to American Revolution beliefs and the right to own slaves and those who began to demand liberty and freedom for all people – black and white (Foner 407-409). Generally, slaves’ lives were difficult, with restrictive codes of behavior, constraints on learning to read and write, forced separation of family members, physical and sexual abuse and severe punishments for escapes and slave revolts (Foner 409-411, 415-421, 424-429). The Underground Railroad helped slaves escape to freedom (Foner 425). Freed blacks were viewed by white workers as competition for employment and worked at the lowest levels of the Northern and Southern social structures (Bonacich 614-616; Pessen 1129). Men, women and children labored in fields under harsh conditions (Foner 415-417). Slave customs and culture evolved despite slavery’s oppression (Foner 421-424).
Works Cited
Bonacich, Edna. “Abolition, the Extension of Slavery, and the Position of Free Blacks: A Study
of Split Labor Markets in the United States, 1830-1863.” American Journal of Sociology 81. 3 (1975): 601-628. JSTOR. Web. 30 Apr 2016.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2014. Print.
Pessen, Edward. “How Different from Each Other Were the Antebellum North and South?”
The American Historical Review 85.5 (1980): 1119-1149. JSTOR. Web. 30 Apr 2016. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1853242>.
“Slavery in America.” history.com. HISTORY.com, n.d. Web.
30 Apr 2016. <http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery>.
