Coursework Sample: US History

Publication Date: 17 Jan 2020

Chapter 8: Growing pains: The New Republic 1790-1820.

1. Hamilton tried to end the financial challenges of the United States by proposing the formation of a national bank which was to convert paper money into gold and control the irresponsible issuing of notes by the banks. 2. Hamilton planned to use the national bank to develop credit through the issuing of bills of credit and loans to American merchants to increase money circulation while acting as the repository for the government revenue got from land sales. In this, he was opposed by Jefferson who challenged the constitutionality of the formation of the bank. 3. The 1790 naturalization act racially defined citizenship as a state of being white and of good behavior. 4. The XYZ affair describes the attempted solicitation of a bribe by the French emissaries form the US government. It put Adams presidency under so much pressure as it angered Americans and also because the republicans demanded all his dealings with France to be made public. 5. The Marbury vs Madison case established the judicial review principle which allows the court to review the action of the President and Congress. 6. The most significant impacts of the war of 1812 could be the economic impact it inflicted on New England and the sense of nationalism that took over Americans after they won.

Chapter 9. Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800-1850.

1. Industrialization affected the consumers by making the once luxury goods widely available for the consumers for the first time. 2. The cotton gin was the invention made by Eli Whitney and it changed the future of slaves in the south. 3. The benefits of the transportation revolution were increased ease in travel, a steady march to the economic progress of the nation by saving the citizens time and money, and also it made the nation more confident. 4. The Erie Canal connected the Hudson River to the Mississippi River and the great lakes, and this changed the western economies by reducing the shipping costs to the west as it reduced the travel time. 5. For people living near the routes, the railroads civilized their neighborhoods from a wilderness that existed previously and this created more jobs. The disadvantage is that the increased demand for the likes of coal affected these areas through pollution. 6. The values of the new middle class included good manners, morality, education, cleanliness, hard work, and discipline.

Chapter 10: Jacksonian Democracy, 1820-1840.

1. Andrew Jackson rose to political prominence through the popularity he gained in wars such as the Seminole and Creek wars and also the war of 1812. He was known as the hero of New Orleans. 2. Andrew Jackson responded to the nullification crisis of South Carolina by declaring that the states had no authority to nullify federal laws in the 1832 nullification proclamation. When it came to the Indian removal act crisis in Georgia, Andrew Jackson challenged the Supreme Court to enforce the law that prohibited the removal of the Indians if it could. 3. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was a policy that called for the resettling of the Indians who were considered an obstacle to the white settlements, from the southeastern United States to the western United States. The act stipulated that a threat to sovereignty was posed by the Indians who lived independently in the southeastern states of the US and to nullify this threat, they had to be relocated to Oklahoma. 4. In 1835, the Cherokee were forced into ceding their land to the government for compensation through the treaty of New Echota in 1835. As a result, some people lost their lives and this initiated the trail of tears which is a concept that describes the troubles that the Cherokee went through when they were being forcefully evicted from the southeastern United States. 5. In reaction to the Indian removal, the Seminoles went to war with the US to try and protect their lands.

Chapter 11: A Nation in the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800-1860.

1. Lewis and Clark were members of the Corps of Discovery who were appointed by Thomas Jefferson to explore the Louisiana territory, specifically to explore the west through the Missouri River. Apart from the men they traveled with, the two were helped by the French fur trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, who acted as a guide and interpreter along the way. 2. The Missouri compromise was a policy that saw to the admission of Maines and Missouri as a Free and Slave state respectively, into the union at the same time. This compromise shaped the future of the United States in the coming decades by establishing a balance of power in the US Senate between the north and the south states. 3. The greatest source of discontent with Mexico for the American immigrants into Texas was the 1829 abolition of slavery by the Mexican government. 4. The Alamo became a symbol of resistance to oppression. Even though the Americans did their best, they were not able to hold down the mission as they were overpowered by the Mexicans after 13 days. 5. The three objectives of the American military in the war with Mexico were to take control of New Mexico and all of northern Mexico, to capture Mexico City and to seize California. The American military accomplished all these objectives. 6. In 1849, due to the discovery of gold, people flocked the state of California and this resulted in the rise in its population to more than 100, 000 people. 7. The whites in California disliked the Chinese because they were hardworking and took most of the mining jobs, and in this regard, the whites believed the Chinese were taking away their opportunity to make a living.

Chapter 12. Cotton is King: The Antebellum South 1800-1860.

1. In terms of exports, the cotton boom changed the economy of the south by bringing it more strongly into the extended American and Atlantic markets. From a slavery standpoint, the cotton boom changed the south’s economy by increasing the intensity of the slave trade which was critical in the economic success of the country. 2. The difference between the domestic slave trade and the transatlantic one is that the former was restricted within the borders of America while the latter entailed the transporting of enslaved people from Africa to the Americas. 3. Paternalism is the assumption that the white masters had the best interest of their slaves at heart and in this regard, they had to take responsibility for their care, discipline, and feeding. The slaveholders used this concept to their advantage to justify the institution of slavery and also in handling the slaves by threatening to sell them or by physically punishing them. 4. The Spanish Cuba was of interest to the expansionists because it offered an effective avenue through which America could get more slaves and create an American slavery empire.

Chapter 13: Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820-1860.

1. Abolitionism is an antislavery movement which advocated for its immediate elimination. The movement grew through the publicization of the atrocities that were being committed by the slaveholders. 2. Women took part in the abolition movement by forming activist groups to try and voice their concerns and fight for equality in the society. 3. During Nat Turner’s Rebellion, slavery was fought from an evangelical point of view which saw to the killing of 65 people who were masters and their families. This move led to the spread of panic across Virginia and the whole of the slaveholding south.

Chapter 14: Troubled Times: The Tumultuous 1850s.

1. The bills of the Compromise of 1850 were the Fugitive Slave Act, ridding DC of the slave trade, admission of California as a free state, sovereignty for Utah and New Mexico on the issue of slavery, and Texas giving up lands it claimed from New Mexico, and getting 10 million dollars to settle the debt it owed Mexico. 2. Many northerners resisted the Fugitive Slave Act by aiding the runaway slaves and refusing to catch fugitives. 3. The 150 deaths caused by violent conflicts between the antislavery forces and the border ruffians who supported slavery resulted in Kansas being nicknamed ‘Bleeding Kansas’. 4. Dred Scott vs Sanford ruling determined the legality and constitutionality of slavery in America by stating that Congress could not stop the spread of slavery. 5. In October 1859, the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, was attacked by John Brown and other armed 18 black and white young men.

Chapter 15: The Civil War 1860-1865.

1. The civil war started in fort Sumter Charleston South Carolina. After the incident, both parties felt the strains of the war but some of the states still relentlessly opted to keep on fighting. 2. The confederate states of America was a government formed by the southern states in the US and its main agenda was to protect the institution of slavery and keeping it legal. Its president was Jefferson Davis. 3. The military difference is that the northern soldiers were better equipped, fed and clad for the war and the southern army had issues with equipment and the general readiness for the war. The other difference is that the north had an extensive railroad structure while the south lacked the same. Economically, the South depended on cotton exports while the north depended more on industrialization. 4. Total war is an approach to war that involves striking military targets and destroying the resources of the enemy at the same time, without any distinction between civilian and military targets. Habeas corpus is the requirement to bring a suspect before a judge to secure their release unless legal grounds have been shown for their continued detention. 5. In 1863, the union army and the northern army met and clashed at Gettysburg and produced what is known as the battle of Gettysburg. The battle was significant because it produced the biggest and costliest battle in the history of America. 6. General Sherman’s goal as he marched to sea was to defeat the Union forces. He presented the city of Savannah as a Christmas gift to Lincoln. 7. On the 9th of April 1865, the south surrendered the war at Appomattox Court House in Virginia