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US History

This is a survey course that provides students with an investigation of important political, economic, and social developments in American history from the pre-colonial time period to the present day. Students will be engaged in activities that call upon their skills as historians (i.e. recognizing cause and effect relationships, various forms of research, expository and persuasive writing, reading of primary and secondary sources, comparing and contrasting important ideas and events).

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US History
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Chapter 21 - The Furnace of Civil War

  1. Bull Run Ends the “Ninety-Day War”
    1. The North (as well as the South) expected a short war, about 90 days.
    2. The Battle of Bull Run (AKA Battle of Manassas) squashed the short-war theories.
      1. Neither side was properly prepared. Many citizens picnicked along the edge of the battle as though tailgaiting at a sporting event.
      2. The battle went back and forth at first but Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's men held their line and earned him his nickname.

Chapter 20 - Girding for War: The North and the South

  1. The Menace of Secession
    1. Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office March 4, 1861. The backdrop of the occasion was the half-finished dome of the Capitol building—symbolic of the nation's fracture.
    2. At his inauguration, Lincoln made clear the primary goal of his presidency—bring the nation back together.
      1. He argued that dividing the country is impossible simply due to geographic reasons.
      2. If the South left, how much of the national debt should they take, Lincoln wondered? Or, what would be done about runaway slaves?

Chapter 19 - Drifting Toward Disunion

  1. Stowe and Helper: Literary Incendiaries
    1. Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. It stirred the North's sense of morality against slavery and was a substantial catalyst toward war. When Lincoln met Stowe, he said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war."
      1. In one line, the novel was about the splitting up of a slave family and the mistreatment of likable Uncle Tom by a cruel slave master.

Chapter 18 - Renewing the Sectional Struggle

  1. The Popular Sovereignty Panacea
    1. The Mexican Cession lands opened a "can of worms" with the question, "What should be done about slavery in these lands?"
    2. Further, with this question, the political parties (Whig and Democrat) were put into a tricky position. No matter which way they answered, half of the nation would be offended.
      1. Largely, the parties simply chose to side-step the slavery-expansion question (give no clear answer) so as to offend no one, hopefully.

Chapter 17 - Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

  1. The Accession of “Tyler Too”
    1. William Henry Harrison, the Whig president elected in 1840, suddenly died after only one month in office.
    2. Harrison's campaign slogan had been "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too." Now, with Tippecanoe dead, it was Tyler's turn to be president.
      1. John Tyler was not part of the Whig plan. Whig leaders Henry Clay and Daniel Webster had intended to control President Harrison. But, Tyler had a strong independent streak.

Chapter 16 - The South and the Slavery Controversy

  1. "Cotton Is King!"
    1. Eli Whitney's 1793 cotton gin invention revolutionized the Southern economy. Added to mechanical jennies to spin yarn, power looms to weave, and sewing machines to sew, the demand (and profits) for cotton fiber skyrocketed.
    2. Southerners scrambled to plant more cotton.
      1. The land was usually worn out then discarded ("land butchery"). The result was a Southern thirst for still more land.
      2. The demand for slaves to work the land also increased.

Chapter 15 - The Ferment of Reform and Culture

  1. Reviving Religion
    1. By 1850, America was still a mostly church-going country. 75% of Americans attended church regularly.
      1. The church-going nature of America was noted by French observer Alexis de Tocqueville during a visit.
    2. New religions challenged Christianity, however.
      1. Deism sprang out of the Enlightenment (AKA "Age of Reason") and was based on scientific or logical reasoning rather than faith. It had fundamental differences with Christianity…

Chapter 14 - Forging the National Economy

  1. The Westward Movement
    1. Americans continued to move westward in large numbers. The trip though, proved to have lots of difficulties, hardships, and diseases.
    2. Generally speaking, the westerners were (independent, stubborn, uneducated, and individualistic and ambitious in their own way).
    3. Emerging literature reflected these unique types of people such as James Fenimore Cooper's woodsy hero "Natty Bumpo" or Herman Melville's whale-hunting "Captain Ahab."
  2. Shaping the Western Landscape

    Chapter 12 - The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism

    1. On to Canada Over Land and Lakes
      1. The War of 1812 was very divisive to America. Sections were staunchly for it or against it. Generally, the West and South were for the war, the Northeast was hotly against it.
      2. In many ways, the war was very disorganized.
        1. Loaded with naive ambition of easily gaining lands, the Americans attacked "On to Canada!" The attack was poorly planned and poorly executed by poor generals. The Americans lost.

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