Expansion in the 1st half of the 19cent.

The US, having won its independence, began to develop rapidly. The population was almost rural. Most people lived isolated, with poor books, schools. But the immigrants from the Old World came in great numbers. The government supported them. The Industrial revolution began to make progress. Massachusetts and Rhode Island: textile; Connecticut: tinware and clocks; New York, Pennsylvania: paper, glass, iron. The US was second in shipping after Britain. Political changes aimed at consolidating of central gov-t. The country was governed by Articles of Confederation acc.to which Congress could not make laws or raise taxes. There was no permanent executive or federal judiciary. To this purpose, in May 1787,a convention met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. The delegates, headed by G.Wash., Benj. Franklin, James Madison drafted a new Constitution, which established a strong federal gov-t, gave executive power to an elected president and provided for a Supreme Court. Also it established the principle of checks and balances. The Constitution was ratified in 1789.30 Aprile,1789-G.Washington was unanimously chosen president. He served for 2 terms. He organized a national gov-t, developed politics for settlement, stabilized the admission of 3 new states: Vermont(1791),Kentucky(1792),Tennessee(1796)

Bill of rights!

A major conflict took place between the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson. It concerned the power of the central gov-t. The F-ts favored a strong central gov-t and expressed the interests of the rich and prosperous classes. D Rep-ns defended the rights of the individual states and appealed to the small farmers. Many Americans feared that a powerful central gov-t would violate the basic liberties of the American people and therefore in 1791,the Congress added the first 10 amendments to the Constitution-the Bill of rights, which guaranteed freedom of speech, the right of citizens to bear arms, protection against illegal house searches, the right to a fairy trial by jury and protection against cruel and unusual punishments. Today 27 amendments.1791-G.Wash.retired and was succeeded by John Adams, his vice president.

1801-Thomas Jefferson became president.1803-Napoleon resolved to improve the financial position of his country by selling the huge territory of Louisiana located to the west of the Mississippi River to the US for 15million dollars.1814,December-the Treaty of Ghent, It provided for the cessation of hostilities and for a commission to settle the boundary between the USA and Canada.1830-first steam railroad in Baltimore.

Monroe doctrine

During the early 19cent Central and South America turned to revolution. Napoleon’s conquest of Spain in 1808 provided the signal for Latin Am-ns to rise in revolt against the Spanish colonizers in Lat. Am-a.A vast territory had won independence from the mother country in 1822 President James Monroe recognized the new countries of Latin Am-a. Russia, Prussia and Austria formed the Holly Alliance to protect themselves against revolution. When the Alliance announced its intension of restoring the former colonies to Spain and Russia took moves to consolidate its hold to the South of Alaska, President Monroe in 1823 declared to Congress that the US would not tolerate any further extension of European domination in the Am-a. It became known as the Monroe Doctrine declaring that the Western hemisphere was within the special interests of the USA and that any action taken by any European power would be regarded as an unfriendly disposition toward the US.

There was a growing conflict between the free labour economy of the Northern states and the slave-base plantation of the South.1852,”Uncle Tom’s Cabin”-powerful anti-slavery novel.1854-anti-slavery Republican party headed by A.Lincoln.12 April(1861-1865)-Civil War. The North won.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 884