U.S. History North Carolina SCOS Presentation Unit 5 Expansion and Reform

U.S. HistoryNorth Carolina SCOS Presentation

Unit 5

“Expansion and Reform”

Objective Analysis:

Unit 5: “Expansion and Reform”

Time: 1801 – 1850

Objective: The learner will assess the competing forces of expansionism, nationalism, and sectionalism

Unit 5.1: Analyze the effects of territorial expansion and the admission of new states to the Union (United States).

Most people moving west were motivated by economic reasons or they were seeking a new way of life.– The west offered a chance to live with less

distinction between social, political, and cultural classes. In some cases the frontier was almost “lawless”.

– The discovery of gold (1) in California in 1848, and subsequent “Gold Rush” in 1849, caused a dramatic increase in the desire to uproot one’s life and move west.


The main routes for western travel were:– The Oregon Trail (2) used by settlers hoping to cash in

on the rich fur trade in the Oregon Territory. The Fur Trade became so important that many Oregon

settlers were willing to wage war with the British over ownership of the entire territory.

“54 40 or Fight” (3) became their rallying cry.– The Mormon Trail (4), used by the Mormons to travel to

the Utah Territory. The Mormons were led to Utah by their leader, Brigham

Young (5).


New Technologies increase the desire to move west:– In order for people to pick up and move to the west

there had to be the expectation of making a living. John Deere (6) invented the Steel Plow, which made

cultivation much more efficient in the tough terrain of the Great Plains.

Cyrus McCormick (7) invented the Mechanical Reaper, which dramatically improved wheat harvest.

– There also needed to be a reasonable and affordable means to travel there.

The Transcontinental Railroad (8) provided the means for families to uproot and move west.

The Steel Plow and McCormick’s Reaper settle the Plains.

These inventions provided greater food supplies to feed the growing number of urban dwellers (people living in cities).

“without it, we never could have farmed this land. The ground was just too darn hard. We never would have been able to plant anything.”


The primary motivation for westward expansion was provided by the idea of Manifest Destiny (9).– Manifest Destiny was the belief that it was the destiny

of the United States to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific and dominate North America.

Economic Motivation – New Markets, New sources of raw materials, Access to the Pacific (China Market).

Cultural Motivation – Spread Christianity to the Native American cultures of the Great West.

Political Motivation – American nationalism required the expansion of territory, wealth, and power.


Manifest Destiny becomes a “Campaign Promise”– James K. Polk (10) was elected President in 1844 based

on his campaign promise to fulfill Manifest Destiny.– He would lay the ground work for the annexation of

Texas.– He signed a Treaty that acquired Oregon from the

British.– He instigated the Mexican war, which resulted in the

acquisition of the Mexican Cession (most of the Southwest United States today)

James K. Polk fulfills Manifest Destiny

"The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government. While the Chief Magistrate and the popular branch of Congress are elected for short terms by the suffrages of those millions who must in their own persons bear all the burdens and miseries of war, our Government can not be otherwise than pacific."


Manifest Destiny takes root in Texas– The Mexican government opened Texas to American

settlement and got more than it bargained for.– American settlers were led into Texas by Stephen Austin (11).– When Mexico tried to close Texas, the American settlers

began talking secession.– Santa Anna (12), the Dictator that ruled Mexico, personally led

an army north and slaughtered Americans at the Alamo.– Rallying around the cry of “remember the Alamo”, the

Americans defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto (13) and formed the Independent Republic of Texas (The Lone Star Republic)

– Sam Houston (14) became the first President of the Lone Star Republic.

– Texas was later annexed as the 28th state in the United States.

Stephen Austin leads American settlers into Texas, Sam Houston leads Texans into War.


The event that is most associated with the concept of Manifest Destiny was the Mexican War.– James K. Polk sent a U.S. Army group to the Rio

Grande River to perform military exercises under the command of Zachary Taylor.

– Polk knew that the territory was in a disputed zone, claimed by both the U.S. and Mexico (15).

– Mexico viewed the action as an invasion of their territory and sent forces to oppose them.

– The United State declared war on Mexico and won a decisive victory.

– The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (16) ended the war and ceded the “Mexican Cession” (17) to the United States.

Filling out the borders


The Gadsden Purchase (18) completed Manifest Destiny by filling out the borders of what is today the mainland United States.

All that was left to acquire was Alaska and Hawaii.

Unit 5.2: Distinguish between the economic and social issues that led to sectionalism.

Three main areas of American life were effected by Manifest Destiny– The Economy– The Slavery Issue– The fate of Native Americans


As the nation continued to grow, it was becoming more and more divided economically.– The Northern economy featured foreign trade, industry,

production of food crops (corn, wheat, cattle, etc.), and development of transportation systems (Railroad, canals, steamboats, etc.).

– The Economy of the north (19) was much more diverse than that of the south and depended much less on slave labor.

– Most cheap labor in the north was generated by immigrant workers.


The economy of the South (20) was much less diverse.

The Southern economy was based primarily on Plantation agriculture and the production of cotton.

Plantation Agriculture depended heavily on slave labor.

Ironically, most southerners were subsistence farmers, running small, family farms and employing very few slaves.

Most Southern wealth and power lay with the Planter Class, which also owned the vast majority of slaves.


In order to make the diverse regions of the nation more interdependent and foster a greater self-sufficiency amongst the states, Henry Clay (21) proposed the American System.– The American System featured the Tariff of 1816, later

nicknamed the Tariff of Abominations, a “protective tariff” designed to protect Northern industry.

– Clay revived the Bank of the United States in order to stabilize national currency.

– The American System included various transportation projects to build commerce and trade such as the Erie Canal (22) and the National Highway.


The Protective Tariff caused a tremendous division within national politics.– As it became clear that the Tariff was devastating the

profitability of southern cotton, many southerners began to protest the tariff.

– The Economy of the South (25) was clearly hurt, while the economy of the North benefited from the Tariff.

– John C. Calhoun (23) became the voice of this protest, calling the Tariff the “Tariff of Abominations” (24) and rallying his home state of South Carolina to revive the Nullification (26) Theory.

– Andrew Jackson pushed Congress to pass the Force Bill, which authorized Jackson to use Federal Troops to enforce the Tariff if necessary.

– Eventually Henry Clay brokered a Compromise that ended the talk of secession and nullification.


The Second Bank of the U.S. also created great division.– Andrew Jackson believed that a National Bank was

dangerous and unconstitutional.– Although the Supreme Court ruled in McCullough v.

Maryland that the National Bank was Constitutional, Jackson believed his reelection was a cry by the American people for him to take out the Bank.

– Jackson withdrew Federal money from the Bank of the U.S. and deposited it, along with all future Federal Revenue, into specially selected “Pet Banks” (27).

– The move nearly ruined the economy and caused the “Panic of 1837”.


Manifest Destiny did not work out very well for Native Americans.– When Andrew Jackson became President in 1828 he initiated

a policy called “Forced Removal” (28), which required that Native Americans leave their ancestral lands to be relocated on Reservations west of the Mississippi River.

– Congress passed the Indian Removal Act (29) to put the law in place.

– The Cherokee sued to stay on their lands in Georgia and won the Supreme Court decision in Worchester v. Georgia (30), but were forced off their land anyway.

– The deadly journey of the Cherokee from Georgia to Oklahoma became known as the “Trail of Tears” (31).

The Trail of Tears


Manifest Destiny created the most divisive issue of the 1800s by raising the question of whether or not slavery would move west as the nation expanded west.– The issue came to a head when Missouri applied for

statehood as a slave state.– This threatened to throw off the balance of power in

Congress and raging debate began.– Congress passed the Missouri Compromise (32) hoping

it had settle the debate on slavery.– It was ultimately decided that Missouri would be

admitted as a slave state, that Maine would enter as a free state, and that a dividing line (36 30 N. Latitude) for slavery in the Louisiana Territory would be created. North of the line being free, South of the line being slave.


Despite the principles espoused in the Declaration of Independence (“All men are created equal”), many Americans still subscribed to the view of slavery as a “necessary evil” and did not support policies related to abolition.

Why do you think the southern states were unhappy with the Missouri Compromise?


The outcome of the Mexican War only served to intensify the slavery issue’s impact on manifest destiny.– David Wilmot proposed the “Wilmot Proviso”

(33), which would ban slavery from all of the territory gained from Mexico.

– The debate over slavery in the Territories would eventually lead to the secession of the Southern States and the beginning of the Civil War.

Unit 5.3: Evaluate the role of religion in the debate over slavery and other social movements and issues.

As the nation began to experience the divisive effects of sectionalism, a religious revival movement began to spread that encouraged people to become involved in social reform.– The Second Great Awakening (34) made people aware

that employing their faith to work for the common good was essential to salvation.

– The Second Great Awakening spawned the Abolition Movement, the Women’s Rights Movement, Reforms in Public Education, Reforms in the treatment of the mentally ill, and prison reform.


The American Abolition Movement was founded by William Lloyd Garrison (35) who wrote articles in his newspaper, The Liberator, calling for the immediate end of all slavery in the United States.– Other Key members of the American Abolition

Movement included: Frederick Douglass (36), published articles in his

newspaper The North Star. David Walker (37) wrote An Appeal to the Colored

Citizens of the World. Nat Turner (39) led a bloody slave revolt in Virginia. Sojourner Truth (40) became a powerful speaker for

both abolition and women’s rights.

“It brands your Democracy a fraud, your Christianity a lie….” Frederick Douglass

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."


Many women who worked in the Abolition Movement began to question why there was not a more intense Women’s Rights Movement.– Prior to the 1830s many women joined clubs and

church groups to push for greater rights for women and break women free of the “Cult of Domesticity” (43) (the idea that a woman’s only place was in the home).

– Early leaders of the Women’s Rights Movement included the Grimke sisters (44), Sarah and Angelina.

– The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (45) worked to ban alcohol, citing that many tragedies had befallen women as the result of alcoholism.


The Women’s Rights Movement kicked into high gear when Elizabeth Cady Stanton (41) organized the Seneca Falls Convention in New York in 1848.– The Convention resulted in the drafting of the Declaration of

Sentiments (42), which outlined the grievances of women.– Although Stanton and Lucretia Mott (co-organizer) supported

women gaining the right to vote, it was left out of the Declaration of Sentiments.

– Susan B. Anthony would take up the torch for women’s suffrage (right to vote) in the 1880s.

– Carrie Chapman Catt helped get the 19th Amendment ratified in 1919, which granted women the right to vote in Federal elections.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Carrie Chapman Catt


Women still faced many challenges as they moved out into the workforce. The shift from American industry from being a “Cottage Industry” to the Factory System increased the number of women working outside the home.

The Lowell Mill in Massachusetts was a prime example of a Factory that hired single women so they could pay lower wages then forced the women to work in harsh conditions.


Other areas of social reform:– Dorothea Dix (47) worked to improve the treatment of

the mentally ill in American society.– William Channing worked to transform the treatment of

prisoners from a focus on punishment and retribution to a focus on rehabilitation.

– Some reformers chose to abandon society altogether by forming utopian communities (46) such as Brook Farm. These were to be “perfect” communities free of competition and crime.


Another major area of social reform was those made in the public education system.– Noah Webster (48) was regarded as the

“Schoolmaster of the Republic” because he authored numerous textbooks used in the public education system.

– Webster also authored a dictionary that featured “American English”.

– Horace Mann (49) was a key component in reforming the Public Education System by helping to improve teacher training.

Unit 5.4: Assess political events, issues, and personalities that contributed to nationalism.

The end of the War of 1812 and the great victory in the Battle of New Orleans created a tremendous swell in national pride and patriotism that led to a period of intense nationalism (53) known as the “Era of Good Feelings” (50).– James Monroe cashed in on this patriotism and was

elected President in 1816.– Monroe’s Secretary of State was John Quincy Adams

(son of President John Adams), the two of them began to build a foreign policy based on American nationalism.

– In 1823 President Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine (51), stating that European intervention and colonization in Latin America would no longer be tolerated (meant little in 1823, meant a lot more in 1898).

President James Monroe

"The American continents ... are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers."


The popularity of James Monroe, the only U.S. President to run for reelection unopposed, led to the election of John Quincy Adams (his Secretary of State) in 1824. The election was highly controversial and led to an undermining of American national spirit.– John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson in the

1824 election.– Election results were so close that the election went to

the House of Representatives to decide.– In exchange for support of the American System, Henry

Clay persuaded his supporters to vote for Adams for President.

– Andrew Jackson labeled the election a “corrupt bargain” (52) and vowed to do all he could to undermine John Quincy Adams’ administration.


Andrew Jackson initiated a new brand of “democracy” in the United States. As President he would vow to increase voting rights. It was not, however, completely democratic. Jackson believed in “white man’s suffrage”, still excluding African Americans, women, and immigrants.

Jackson was also a champion of the “Spoils System”. The term Spoils System describes Jackson’s brand of patronage. He came into office and fired many who had been appointed by the previous administration, replacing them with political allies without regards to their actual qualifications.

Unit 5.5: Describe how the growth of nationalism and sectionalism were reflected in art, literature, and language.

American authors portray a distinctly “American” style in their writing.– James Fennimore Cooper authored The Pathfinder and The

Last of the Mohicans romanticizing the American frontier.– Washington Irving introduced the world to the American

common man through characters like Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle.

– Irving also created the Knickerbocker School, which celebrated life in the American Northeast.

– Nathaniel Hawthorne authored The Scarlet Letter focusing on problems related human nature, sin, and punishment for sins.

– Edgar Allen Poe featured American forms of speech and created new “American” forms of literature. Poe created the mystery story and authored works such as The Raven and The Telltale Heart.

James Fennimore Cooper, Irving Washington, and Edgar Allen Poe


American artists of the Hudson River School focused on showing the beauty of the American landscape.– Thomas Cole – Frederick Church– They chose American subjects and displayed a

spiritual feeling for nature.


The Transcendentalist Movement (54) began in America with the found of the Transcendental Club by Ralph Waldo Emerson.– Emerson’s publication of Nature was the first major

work associated with the movement.– Emerson focused on the power of imagination and the

individual. He expressed an almost religious feeling toward nature and stressed that the individual should be self-reliant.


Henry David Thoreau (55) put the Movements ideas into action by secluding himself in a hut by Walden pond for two years.– Thoreau published Walden celebrating nature and

individualism, Thoreau believed that happiness lied in going one’s own way (“taking the road less traveled”).

– Thoreau became an important political activist by refusing to pay his taxes, believing that they would go to fund the Mexican War and extend the power of slavery.

– His essay Civil Disobedience would later influence the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Henry David Thoreau

Goal Summary

During this period the United States struggled

with internal conflict and expansion to develop

a uniquely American identity and begin to

and assert itself in the world.

Documents

U.S. History North Carolina SCOS Presentation Unit 5 Expansion and Reform