History 1301 exam 1

US I - LESSON FOUR

This lesson contains my ideas about US History. It is meant to give you information, and to get you to think. The lesson is drawn from various sources and may or may not agree with concepts and ideas from your textbook. 

Everything from this point on is testable:

Indian Relations – By 1800 we were a civilized nation. As such, we could no longer exterminate Indians without a good reason. Basically we were wearing the black hat and wanted to wear the white hat. We had to come up with a good plan to exterminate Indians but make it look like it was their fault. We hit on treaties. Have the Indians sign their land over through a treaty and then attack when they don't leave. This was easy. The Indians had no concept of land ownership. They signed treaties to humor us and were surprised when we returned the next day to tell them to get off our land. When they didn't leave they were held in violation of the treaty and we could wear the white hat while killing them. The Embargo Act – Jefferson ran for reelection in 1804 and won by a good margin. Would he run for a third term in 1808? That question was answered when he got Congress to pass the Embargo Act. England and France were seizing American ships. Jefferson's solution? Stop trading with the world. Everybody was unhappy with this solution. Jefferson's popularity was at an all time low, so like Washington before him, Jefferson realized that two terms were enough. He handpicked Madison as his successor. Madison would immediately clean up Jefferson's mess as we shall soon see. 

Aaron Burr – This man just could not stay out of trouble.  After trying unsuccessfully to ‘steal’ Jefferson’s presidency, Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, and was then wanted for murder but never tired.  Next he tried to take part of America’s western lands and make himself king of the territory.  He was tried for treason but not convicted.  If that wasn’t enough he brought the commander of America’s Army, Gen. James Wilkinson into his land plot.  Wilkinson was absolved and returned to active duty which turned out to be a mistake.  During the War of 1812 Wilkinson led a 4,000 man army against 200 British soldiers who soundly defeated Wilkinson and his men.  

War of 1812 – This lost war was a major mistake. Lost war? Don't many history books portray the War of 1812 as the war where we won freedom of the seas? Yes, but! Let's take a closer look at our "major" victory. First, the north never wanted the war, so we were divided in our support for the war. By 1814 New England was seriously considering seceding from the union. Second let's look at our major military victories. Harrison's Tippecanoe was actually fought before the war began while Andrew Jackson's Battle of New Orleans was fought after the war ended. Our only real victory during the war was the Battle of Lake Erie. The rest of the war was a disaster. The British even captured and burned the nation's capital. The Treaty of Ghent simply ended the war with neither side getting anything. We had wanted the British to leave the northwest and to stop seizing American shipping. England continued occupying the northwest and continued capturing American ships. Luckily England did not want anything from us. Why? In 1814 Napoleon was still a major threat for England. He would not be completely defeated until June 1815. Once again we were lucky in a war with England. England just wanted us to go away so she could concentrate on defeating France.

National Anthem- Francis Scott Key, a prisoner of the British, wrote our National Anthem while watching the British bombard Ft. McHenry.  No, Key was not a prisoner. He was negotiating the release of a prisoner held by the British.  No, he did not write our National Anthem.  He wrote a poem.  An English composer, John Stafford Smith wrote some music and the two were put together.  Even then it was not our National Anthem.  That did not happen until 1931.  So think about it.  Our anthem was half written by the enemy, because we were at war with England when Key wrote his poem.

Monroe's Presidency – Madison handpicked Monroe to be the next President of the United States. In 1816 Henry Clay got Congress to pass bills establishing a Second Bank of the United States and a protective tariff. England offered us a commercial treaty, stopped seizing American ships, and withdrew from the northwest. England also signed the Rush-Bagot Treaty that began disarmament of the Great Lakes and eventually led to the longest undefended border in the world between Canada and the United States. We next signed a treaty with Spain called either the Adams-Onis Treaty or the Transcontinental Treaty in which we agreed to the border between America and Mexico. We agreed that Texas and California was Mexican. We also purchased the Florida peninsula. Finally we proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine. Once most of the Spanish colonies of Latin America gained their independence we took it upon ourselves to tell Europe to stay out of the Western Hemisphere or suffer the wrath of the United States. Wrath of the United States? We were weaker than almost every major nation of Europe. How were we able to keep Europe from re-colonizing Latin America? England supported us, and England was the most powerful nation on earth. Of course, today we no longer need someone else to help us enforce the Monroe Doctrine.

The Election of 1824 – This was our second strange election. In 1800 we had a tie for the presidency, but a constitutional amendment fixed that.  So what was the problem this time? Let's review our presidential line. From 1800 to 1820 the Federalists grew weaker with each election. Finally by 1822 that party ceased to exist. The Democrats were evolving into a one party state. Jefferson served his two terms and handpicked Madison who served his two terms and handpicked Monroe who served his two terms and hand-picked Crawford. Get the picture? The United States of the early 1800s was very much like Mexico of the latter 1900s where each PRI leader was elected president and then handpicked his successor. Well then what happened? By 1824 the Federalists were gone and the Democrats had the field to themselves. Crawford should have been easily elected without opposition, yet if you are thinking, you are saying to yourself "Crawford? There was no President Crawford?" Right! So what happened?

Monroe Makes A Mess – He chose his Secretary of the Treasury, Crawford. Crawford had a stroke. Everybody but Monroe realized Crawford couldn't function as President. Instead of anointing a new leader, Monroe did nothing. Now there was a free-for-all as everybody threw their hats into the ring. John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andy Jackson were the main candidates. They all ran for the office. The results? Jackson got the most electoral votes but not a majority. The election then went to the House of Representatives. Clay realized he could not win so he resolved to swing his support to the best candidate. Adams had years of government experience. Jackson was the "Hero of the Battle of New Orleans."? While it made him very popular it did not qualify him for the presidency. With Clay's support Adams became president. Now here is where things got dirty.

Adams & Clay – Adams made Clay Secretary of State. Big deal. But it was! Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Adams had all been Secretary of State before becoming president. It was getting to where this was a prerequisite for being president and now Clay was getting his ticket punched. Although he had not won a majority, Andy Jackson had received the most votes. Common people complained that professional politicians had denied Jackson, a common man, the presidency. Now these professional politicians were working to deny the presidency to Jackson in the future. Adams would serve eight years and then it would be Clay's turn. In 16 years Jackson, if still living, would be too old to be president.

Agricultural Changes – From 1607 to 1815 agriculture was mainly subsistence. Each farmer grew enough for his family and that was all he grew. The plantations grew cash crops, but they were only a small percentage of American farms. Prior to 1815 cities were small and self-sufficient. They could actually grow their own food supplies. After 1815 cities began to grow courtesy of the Industrial Revolution. Factories were located in the cities. Workers left the farm to take jobs in the cities. The cities could no longer provide food for themselves. Farmers living outside these growing cities saw their opportunities. They began growing extra crops to sell to the cities. Farming had changed forever.

Cotton – In the 1600s the south depended on tobacco. In the 1700s they diversified and produced tobacco, indigo, rice, sugar, and cotton. Now in the 1800s everybody who could grew cotton. Whitney's cotton gin made cotton very profitable. You no longer needed to pick cottonseeds out of each ball by hand. The gin did it for you, and it did a lot of cotton in a very short time. Whitney's invention would have two very unfortunate consequences, both social and economic. Cotton was a labor-intensive crop. As more cotton was grown more slaves were needed so the slave population grew rapidly. The economic problem was mentioned in a previous section. It is not a good idea for any economy to depend on one product. The south had done this in the 1600s, had solidly diversified in the 1700s, but now went back to one crop in the 1800s. If anything happened to cotton the south would be in dire straits. Of course something will happen, but you will have to wait for a future lesson to find out what it was.

Canals and Railroads – Our transportation problems were already discussed previously. With states responsible for transportation, there was no nationwide transportation system. Canals became an important form of transportation in the 1820s and 1830s. Most were located within one state so mainly benefited that state. The Erie Canal was an exception. Sure, it was entirely within New York State and it quickly made New York City the trade center of the United States, but it also benefited many other states because it opened the Great Lakes for economic exploitation and development. After the 1830s, railroads quickly surpassed canals as our major form of transportation. Unlike canals and roads, railroads were interstate. Why? They were privately owned and the owners wanted to maximize profits rather than take care of one state. You maximize profits by taking goods and passengers where they want to go.