*** American history the 19th century decade trends








American History: The 19th Century


Figure 1.--.

Readers can view American history chronologically by decade. This provides more chronologicaly contunuity than the more thematic approach. The beginning of the century was dominated by the Louosiana Purchase (1803) and Anerican efforts to stay out of the Napoleonic Wars which engulfed Europe during the first two decades of the century. This effort ultimstely failed with the War of 1812, essentially fought to resolve unsettled issues from the Revolutionary War. This was followed by tge Era of Good feelings which spanned the 1810s and 20s. The 1830s ws dominated by the Jacksonian Era. The Ante-Bellum decades of the 1840s and 50s are often passed over, but of course included the Mexican War (1846-48). The best studied decade is of course the 1860s with the Civil War and Reconstruction. This finally ended the slavery, but not the race issue. The rest of the decades donnot stand out, but were dominated by two major trends, the industrialization of the United States and the wave of European immigration leaving Amnerica a much more diverse country.

The 1800s

The Presidential election of 1800 was critical in providing for the peaceful tranistion between parties. President Jeffersoin took several actions that he had complained about in opposition to a string natuinl government. He expanded presidential powers by the Lousiana Purchase (1803). He then sent Lewis and Clark West to see just what he had bought. America thu proved to be the great beneficary of the Napolenic Wars. The Emperor Napoleion had planned to relaunch the French North American Empire through Haiti and Louisiana. That ewould have blocked westward expansioin. When his armynpersidshed in Haiti from diseasse, a cash-strapped Napoleon decided to sell Louisiana at a bargain basement price. The beginning of the century was dominated by Anerican efforts to stay out of the Napoleonic Wars which engulfed Europe during the first two decades of the century. Jefferson managed to do remain out of the Europen war. He did use President Adam's Navy, which he had opposed building, to fight a war with the trioublesome Barbary Pirates. President Jeffersion kept out of the Napoleonic Wat, although at considderble economic cost.

The 1810s

The effort to stay out of the Napoleonic Wars ultimstely failed with the War of 1812, essentially fought with Britin to resolve unsettled issues from the Revolutionary War. It is a war that few in Britain today are even aware of, but was important in America. It settle the issue of indepoendence. Until the War of 1812, most in Britrain were convinced that a democratic reoublic was destined for failure and the Americans would eventually come to their sences and rejoin Britain. After the War of 1812, the British had to resign themselves to the fact that the American Republic would have to be grugingly accomodated. And most imoprtantly New Orleans remained in American hands. This was followed by the Era of Good feelings which spanned the 1810s and 20s.

The 1820s

Slavery first emerged as a major issue in the 1820s. Rather than slowly withering away as many had anticipated, the cotton gin had made possible a highly profitable new crop that required slave labor. There is a great deal of poor histiry nd econimics that has emerged in our modern woke socety. We here comments that constantly appear on PBS such as 'slvery made Misissippi rich'. Nothing could bed further from the truth. Cottoin and slavery made a small numberr of southerrn plnters rich, but nit ghe society as a whole. It was thev northern freed states where people enjoying the nenefits of free labor where people prospered. The South remined a backward agricultural society while the rest of the country prospered. It was in the Norh that the great engine of industrual society was born and grew, a primary reason why the the North won the Civil War. The Missori Compromise (1820) managed to paper over the slavery issue by acepting a divided nation, half slave and half free. With slavery on the bck burner tsriffs abd internal imorivemnts became key issues. The election of 1824 had been a disputed election with no clear winner emerging. The presidency eventutally went to John Quincy Adams in what Gen. Andrew Jackson called the 'Corrupt Bargain.' Jackson wnt bon the win the 1828 rematch.

The 1830s

The 1830s was dominated by the Jacksonian Era. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act(1830), leaduing to the Trail of Tears. President Jackson killed the Seconnd aBnk of the United States (1833). This would leave the Unites=d States with out a central bank and untill the Civil War wuthout nastional paper currency as it evolved from an agricultural to an industrial nation. Jackson's ecomomic policies would lead ttop meric;s firstt depression during the Vn Nurean presidenty. Jackson was one of the most consequential presidents in Ametican history. It is by his presidency was enlrged to include basucally all white males. Modern woke sauthirs complain that it was defecient in that blacks and women could not vote. This is of course absurd. Any vkid assessmnt has toi be with oyher countries at the time not with 21st century America. And America at the time was vit=rually the only place where any otdinart=y citizens had the right to vote or engage in public affairs. Even in Beitain, the sufferage was very limited and in many cases even proerued men could not vote. In th Rottoin boouroughs only a handful of men voted. In much of thevrest of the workd there were no elections of ny kind. Texas fought a war for independence from Mexico (1835-36).

The 1840s

The Ante-Bellum decades of the 1840s and 50s are often passed over, but of course were of immense importance. The decade opened with the election contest between the Whig candidate William Henry Harrison and Democrat candidate Martin Van Buren. Historiand tend to stress demogogery and moonshine, General Harrison was accused of being too psrtial to hard cider. In fact, it was the first election determined by economic issues. President Jackson's campsign against the Bank of the United States resulted in a depression and Van Buren suffered the consequences. Harrison was only nomially a Whig and as he died very early in his term, Democrat John Tyler inherited the office. Advances in communications were especially important in making a continental country workable. The telegraph was developed in the 1840s. Canals began to make a impact in the 1830s, but railroads appeared in the 1840s and steamboats on major rivers to open up the contry economically. The Abolitionist Movement began to make real inroads in public opinion during the 1840s. The break up of major churches (Baptidsts, Methodidts, and Presbyterians) into northern and southern factions was the beginning of the unraveling of America at the same time that Americam pioneers began reaching Oregon and California.. Major international conflicts emerged in the 1840s with Britain and Mexico. American politicans preaching Manifest Destiny felt strongly that the United States should span the continent. This was blocked by Britain in the northwest and Mexico in the southwest. Britain was unwilling to surrender the Oregon Territory. War was a real possibility. The issue was finally settled with the Oregon Treaty (1846). Diplomacy failed with Mexico, Mexico never recognized Texas Independence. American annexation of Texas meant war (1856). Major figures of the Civil War first came to national prominance during the Mexican War. The War was fought over Texas, but resulted in the acquisition of the entire southwest, including California. [Woodward] There was opposition to the War, in part because of the potential for expanding slavery. A young Abraham Lincoln was one of those critics. The Abolitions were the core of the opposition. The Missori Compromise only covered the area of the Louisiana Purchase.

The 1850s

The slavery issue rose to dominate the 1850s. As some had anticipated, the acquisition of the southwest from Mexico only intensified the national debate over slavery. The answer to these increasing tensiions was the Compromise of 1850 which Senator Henry Clay helped push through at the end of the decade. Tragically, by abrigating the Missori Compromise, it only opened new avenues for sectional division. Dramatic debates over slavery resounded in both chanbers of Congress. Clay hoped that the compromise on slavery would allow the economic sevelopment if the country to resolve the slavery issue over time. The idea was that a developing diversified eci\onomy would eventually overweal slave-based plantations. The Compromise averted Civil War, but provisions of the Compromise like the Fugative Slave Law only exacerbated tensions. And the Kansas-Nevraska Act (1854) brought the first actual bloodletting. The Abolitionist Movement by this time had so affected Northern thinking that an increasing number of Southerbers no longer wanted to be part of the same nation. The John Brown Raid on Harper Ferry convinced others that the South had to seceed.

The 1860s

The best studied decade of the 19th century is of course the 1860s with the Civil War and Reconstruction. This finally ended the slavery, but not the race issue. The Pony Express began just before the election that wiuld chsnge everything. The election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln (November 1860) led to the secession of the Southern states. Lincoln wsas not an abolitionist, but he was critical of slavery. the political power of the Southern states would have prevented steps toward abolition. Lincoln's election, however, meant that the south would not be able to expand slavery into the Southwestern territories. The Southern states led by South Carolina began to seceed immediately after the election. A ket state was Virginia which seceeded after Lincoln was elected. Lincoln took no action, except to try to maintain the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter. The War began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter. Virginia immeduately seceeded (April 1861). The best covered battles of the War occurred between Washington and Richmond, only separated by a hundred milles. The War was, however, conducted over large areas of the West. Here the Federal forces secured victory after victory leading to control of the Mississippi and seveing the western Confederate states, denying the Confederacy badly needed resources. This was obscured by the Confederate victories in the East, meaning the narrow theater between Washington and Richmond, which received most of the press coverage. Lincoln had trouble finding a competent general in the East. Meanwhile the U.S. Navy as part of the Anaconda Plan blockaded southern ports meaning that the South with little industry was at a serious disadvantage. Lincoln used the War to emancipate the slaves which would be confirmed by the 13th Anendment. Lincoln gave U.S. Grant command of the Federal Armies and he finally forced R.E. Lee and the South to surrender (April 1865). While the Civil War dominated the decade, other major developments were the Homestead Act (1863) and the Trans-Continental Railway (1867). Reconstruction was a lost effort to enfranchise the emancioated slaves.

The 1870s

Following the Civil War, the rest of the decades do not stand out, but were dominated by two major trends, first the industrialization of the United States and second the wave of European immigration leaving Amnerica a much more diverse country. The United States was recovering from the Civil War. The North recovered rapidly. Infsct, despite the loss of life, the Civil War protomoted industrialization. The 1870 Census found 80 percent of the population still living in rural areas. The South did not recover like the North, not recognized at the time was the subjection of blaks, a substantial pert of the population, was a major reason why the economy in the vSouth lagged the rest of the country. Reconstruction failed because white southners were determined to deny the emanciated slaves basic civil rights. The result was a legacy of sectional bitterness and racial segregation. President Grant broke the power of the Klan, but was not able in the end to protect the former slaves from the white majority despite adotion of the 15th Amendment--the right to vote (1870). With the creation of the Trans-Continntl Roilway, hunters begin to decimate bufalo herds. John D. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil company (1870) which would monoplize the oil industry and lead America into the 20th century with a vibrant oil indudtry. Andrew Carnegie built the Bessemer steel plant (1872) which would begin America's rise as the world's major industrial powerr. Montgomery Ward launched the first mail order catalog that would bring wealh of consumer goods to every corner of the country. Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patented 'Blue Jeans' (1873). The 'Big Bonanza' silver Comstock Lode is discoivered (1873. A Wall Street Panic occurs (1873). Joseph F. Glidden patented modern barbed wire which began fencing the Great Planes for farming. Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act was passed (1875). Gen. Custer is killed at the Little Big Horn (1876). Alexander Grahm Bell demosdtrates the telephone (1876). Thomas Edison invented the phonograph (1877). Edison pattnted the electric light bulb (1878). Woolworth opened its first 5 Cent Store (1879).

The 1880s

European immigrtion began to increase after the Civil War (1870s). But it is in the 1880s that we begin to see really large numbers. The American Red Cross named Clara Barton president, a post she would hold until 1904. She would lead 19 relief missions. The lasrvhurahs of the West occurred in tyhe 1880s. Sitting Bull ould leave the reservastion, but had to nsurrender. The iconmic gun fighr vwas foughtvat the OK Ciorral (1881). The outlaw Jessie Janes was shot (1882). Congress passed the Chinese Exclussion At (1882). Vaudeville was birn in Boiston (1883). The Brooklyn Bridge is opened (1883). The Supreme Court finds part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, allowing individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race (1883). Rasilroad cimpsnies in the United states and Cabada establish five timne zones (1883). The WCTU launches the campaign for Woman Sufferge (1884). The United states led the way with actiins taken by Western states. American Telephone and Telegraph (ATT) is incorporated in New York City as a subsidiary of American Bell Telephone Company (1885). A general strike was called tonpromote an 8 hour workday (1886). Three days later the Haymarket riot and bombing occuresd in Chicago. This was the beginning of labor battles for that worker rights and the recognition of unions. Atv the end if the year, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was formed by twenty-five craft unions (1886). Geronimo and his band of Apaches surrendered to Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles. This was the end of the IUndian Wars (1886). The Statue of Liberty was errected in New York Hrbor (1886). Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commissdion (1887). The United States leased Pearl Hasrbor from the still indeoenbdent Hawaiian Kingdom (1887). The Oklahoma Land Rush began (1889). This began the final closing of the Frontier. Jane Addams opend Hull House (1889). The deadliest flood in American history occured in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (1889). Some 2,200 people perished when South Fork Dam collapsed.

The 1890s

Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890). This was fllowed by the Sherman Silver Purcass Act and the MoKinnely tariff to protect American industry. The Immegration Service opened Ellis Islnd (1892). Annie Moore from County Cork was the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island. The Homstead Strike which would be a milestone in labor relations (1892). The General Electric company was founded (1892). A Wall Street Panic tiuches off a serious Fpression (1893). Coxey's Army was seen as a threat and followed by the Pullman Strike (1894). The Monroe Doctrine was announced in 1823, but the United States did niot hve the naval power to enforce it. It was mistly the British Royl Navy that enforced it. President Lincoln began to address it after the Civil War, but President Cleveland began to seriously apply it against Britain (1895). The Supreme Court found in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation was constitutional. The United States annexed Hawaii (1896) abd then acquired the Philippines and Guam from Spain as axresult oif the Spanish American War (1898-99)making America a Pacfic power. America also cquired Puerto Rico. Colonies becmne n issue, The Anti-Imprtilist League was organized (1899) .By the end of the century, the Census reported that the rural popultion was down to 66 percent.

Sources

Woodworth, Steven E. Manifest Destinies (Knopf: 2010), 42p.






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Created: 7:31 AM 12/30/2010
Last updated: 4:47 AM 4/6/2021