Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Topic One: Making of America - Coggle Diagram
Topic One: Making of America
Growth Of the USA
(1789-1839)
Original 13 states
Conneticut
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
NewYork
New Jersey
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Virginia
Origins of the USA
Fought for independence from Great Britain between 1776 and 1783.
British handed over 230 million acres of native American land to the USA.
The USA was a republic and therefore had no monarchy.
It followed its constitutional rules.
The growth of the USA between 1789 and 1838 was very fast.
Its president in 1798 was George Washington.
US Politics
It was a 'democracy' but only land owning white men could vote.
The USA was also a federal country which meant that each of the 13 states had their own powers and could make their own laws
Laws made by states had to follow the US constitution.
The Constitution could be amended if congress and enough states agreed.
Each state had its own governor and also helped to elect a new president every 4 years.
Why did America Grow So Rapidly?
The first President, George Washington, fought against
Native Americans in the Northwest and took their lands.
From 1791, Washington put 80% of his government
budget into campaigns against the Native Americans.
In 1794, the Native Americans were defeated at the
Battle of Fallen Timbers and their leaders agreed to the
Treaty of Greenville which allowed the USA to take parts
of the Northwest Territory under its control.
Other early Presidents like Thomas Jefferson opened the
Northwest and Southwest territories for settlement.
Slaveholders wanted to expand their plantation
businesses, especially in the warm South.
The US government arranged the Louisiana Purchase
(530 million acres of land bought from France) in 1803.
President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) was keen to expand across the continent. The purchase of Louisiana in 1803 led to more trade routes to the West.
Merriweather Lewis and William Clark were given the task of
exploring new lands.
They set out in May 1804 following the Missouri River into the Rocky Mountains.
They mostly got on well with the Native Americans.
Their exploration led to a further expansion in the fur trade.
Trade with Native Americans grew and there were few problems
before 1840.
Divisions in the USA
White Americans and Native
Americans
Many of the lands taken over by the US government were already occupied by Native
American tribes. Thousands of Native Americans were forced to move further west
White Northerners and white
Southerners
Northern business owners thought that slavery was unfair competition for their factories.
White Southerners and white
Northerners
Many people in the South thought Northern business owners were greedy and morally corrupt.
Abolitionists and other white
Americans
A small number of white and free-black Americans called abolitionists (people who were against slavery) thought that the growth of slavery was immoral. They set about trying to stop it.