The USA in the 19-th century.

Speaking about the most important tendencies in the development of the USA in the 19-th century, it is necessary that we should point out the following ones: expanding the territory, regional differences in the economic development of the North and the South, the attitude to Native Americans and slavery.

The USA began as 13 states situated on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. After the War of Independence the US got the British lands to the east of the Mississippi River. But that did not seem enough. When the third President, Thomas Jefferson, was in power, the western part of the  Mississippi valley and the lands at the mouth of the Mississippi belonged to France. Florida and West Florida belonged to Spain. In case of a war or any other conflict, the enemy could easily block the way to the Gulf of Mexico and do a lot of harm to a great part of the USA. American delegates Monroe and Livingston were sent to Paris to buy New Orleans and the land on the eastern bank of the Mississippi. For that piece Congress provided 2 million dollars. However, Napoleon decided to sell the whole of Louisiana. Monroe and Livingston made a risky decision, offering  15 million for it. Napoleon accepted. In October 1803, the Senate ratified the treaty with Napoleon and Louisiana became property of the USA. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the territory of the country.

In the 19-th century Americans moved steadily westward, often settling the lands which did not belong to the USA. Before 1836 Texas had been a part of Mexico, but the Americans living there greatly outnumbered Mexicans. In 1835 the American population there was 30,000, while the Mexican was 7,800. The government of Mexico wanted those Americans to assimilate, but they did not agree and in 1835 they revolted. Fighting went on till April 1836, when finally the Mexican dictator Santa Anna recognized the independence of Texas. In 1845 the Republic of Texas, a lone star Republic, became a part of the USA.

Many Americans, including President James K. Polk, wanted more land from Mexico than just Texas. In 1846 a war broke out. American troops entered the capital of Mexico. In 1848, after the victory, the USA got the territories of present-day California, Nevada, Utah, parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. The deal is known as the Mexican Cession. In return for that land the US paid Mexico 15 million. Five years later the USA bought the rest of Arizona and New Mexico for 10 million in the Gadsden Purchase. The boundary between the USA and Mexico finally settled along the Rio Grande.

As for Oregon, in 1846 Great Britain and the USA signed a treaty that divided the Oregon lands between them. The northern part went to Canada, while the southern part became American. Thus the USA spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

As European American settlers moved into Indian homelands, many Native Americans had to move further west. While Andrew Jackson was President, Congress passed a law, forcing  Native  Americans, like the Cherokee and the Creek tribes of the southeast, to leave their fertile soil and move to reservations in Oklahoma. Many Indians did not survive this move, they died of disease, cold and lack of food. One fourth of the Cherokee nation perished. They called the way to Oklahoma "the Trail of Tears”. Indian removals went on for 20 years, since 1820 till 1840. Native Americans from different parts of the USA were forced to leave their homelands and settle in unexplored western territories, where the soil was poor and arid.

In the 19-th century the USA experienced a tremendous growth. Though, not all regions of the country were equally developed. The” wild” West differed greatly from the agricultural South or industrialized Northeast. Most of the southern wealth came from farming. Cotton and other crops were raised on large farms and plantations. Plantation owners used cheap slave labor. They believed that black slaves and "King Cotton” were part of the southern way of life. By 1850 the American south grew more than 80 percent of the world’s cotton. At the same time major changes were taking place in the north of the USA. Gradually, more of its wealth was coming from manufacturing and business, which were becoming the northern way of life. It depended on free labor that was necessary for newly-built factories. The principal products of New England and the Middle Atlantic states were textiles, lumber, clothing, machinery, leather and woolen goods. Shipping had also reached the height of its prosperity and American ships carried goods to different countries.

The changes brought by industrialization made people think that any type of progress was possible. The period from the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 to the eve of the Civil War, became one of the greatest periods of reform activity in American  history. As the population boomed and cities sprang up almost overnight, Americans wanted to create a better world. People were hopeful about the new opportunities in the West and in the growing cities of the East. There also was a great renewal of religious faith. Revivalist preachers such as Charles Finney encouraged many Americans to do good works for the love of God. This made many people believe it was their duty to help others. Many reformers tried to correct serious social problems. Some worked for women’s rights.  In cities reformers tried to make conditions better for laborers, especially those in factories. Important changes were taking place in education. A young lawyer named Horace Mann (Massachusetts) fought for the right of every child to attend public school. Catherine Beecher helped many women become teachers in the west. A doctor from Boston, Samuel Gridley Howe, set up the first center for teaching blind children. Others established schools for children who were deaf or could not speak. The desire to perfect American society was also expressed by American artists. A group of painters known as the Hudson River School began painting romantic scenes of the American countryside. George Catlin made numerous paintings of Native Americans. Many of the writers, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, examined the positive aspects of American society. Others, like Nathaniel Hawthorn and Edgar Allan Poe, explored the darker sides.

 However, the largest group of reformers  were those who opposed slavery. These people, abolitionists, wanted to eliminate it everywhere. The most famous abolitionist was William Lloyd Garrison. In 1831, he began criticizing slavery in his Boston newspaper, The Liberator.  For the next thirty years, Garrison remained one of the most vocal opponents of slavery. Two other leading abolitionists, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, were the daughters of a wealthy South Carolina slave owner. They moved north to campaign for abolition and were the first women to speak in public meetings.