...The importance and influence of the Kansas-Nebraska Act is largely understated in American history concerning the outbreak of the civil war, the birth of the Republican party, and the ongoing struggle over states’ rights versus a consolidated federal power. Three such classic American struggles all relate to the principle of popular sovereignty brought into question by the legislation introduced and designed by the Democratic Senator of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas. (Joy article) The Kansas-Nebraska Act was introduced to congress on January 4, 1854. The sponsor, Stephen Douglas, proposed the act with all intents and purposes to clinch a transcontinental railroad route that would run northbound and directly benefit his constituency of Illinois,...
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...Lincoln. Out of this great campaign birth the Lincoln-Douglas debates which was a series of formal political debates in 1858 between the two candidates, but also received national importance. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a defining moment in American political history, affording Abraham Lincoln a major opportunity to create an image for himself on the wider public stage. Stephen Douglas was an established political figure and had distinguished himself in numerous congressional battles, while Lincoln was not known in this arena. Discussion In 1832, Lincoln decided to run for the Illinois State Legislature. Lincoln was to campaign for local improvements such as better roads and canals. However, a war with the Black Hawk Indians broke out before Lincoln’s campaign could get started, in response he joined the Army. After his short wartime, Lincoln returned to politics and lost the race of Illinois Legislature. In 1834 Lincoln made a second attempt to maintain a seat in the state legislature, which he was successful in winning the seat. Lincoln was elected in 1834, 1836, 1838, and in 1840. Lincoln was successful in achieving his goal of relocating the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield. After serving four terms in Illinois House of Representatives, he lost interest in politics until Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska, an act that allowed Kansas and Nebraska to enter the union. What intrigued Lincoln was the fact that these two would decide whether...
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... Introduction The Senate Campaign of 1858 was called the one of greatest Campaign of the century. In the summer of 1858, two candidates campaigned across the state of Illinois for a seat in the United States Senate. That belonged to Stephen Douglas from the Democratic Party. He was seeking reelection. His opponent was a lawyer from the newly established Republican Party. His name was Abraham Lincoln. Out of this great campaign birth the Lincoln-Douglas debates which was a series of formal political debates in 1858 between the two candidates, but also received national importance. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a defining moment in American political history, affording Abraham Lincoln a major opportunity to create an image for himself on the wider public stage. Stephen Douglas was an established political figure and had distinguished himself in numerous congressional battles, while Lincoln was not known in this arena. Discussion In 1832, Lincoln decided to run for the Illinois State Legislature. Lincoln was to campaign for local improvements such as better roads and canals. However, a war with the Black Hawk Indians broke out before Lincoln’s campaign could get going, in response he joined the Army. After his short wartime, Lincoln returned to politics and lost the race of Illinois Legislature. In 1834 Lincoln made a second attempt to maintain...
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...September 2012 Abraham Lincoln’s Political and Moral Slavery Dilemma The sixteenth President of the United States of America, the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln casts quite a historical shadow over any other competing figure. Lincoln was brought into the world on February 12th, 1809 to an incredibly modest upbringing in which he would mold himself into a successful lawyer and later a politician. Abraham received little formal education during his childhood, eventually acquainting himself with the law through the apprenticeship system. After rising through the Illinois legislature structure, Lincoln went on to serve in the House of Representatives on behalf of the state of Illinois before gaining widespread recognition from his debates with competing Senate candidate Stephen A. Douglas in 1858.The expansion of slavery into the United States new territories was the hotly contested issue of these debates, Lincoln’s stance would eventually propel him into the national spotlight and later the Presidency. Abraham Lincoln’s views on slavery were split between his political obligations and his moral beliefs, his political actions were influenced by his desire to preserve the Union, and his moral stance on the issue largely stemmed from his deep-seeded belief in the power of the Constitution, not the political or social equality of another race. Abraham Lincoln’s view on slavery was segregated in itself, between how he perceived the issue on a political level and as a moral dilemma...
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...Macmillan Information Now Encyclopedia: The history of African American slavery in the United States can be divided into two periods: the first coincided with the colonial years, about 1650 to 1790; the second lasted from American independence through the Civil War, 1790 to 1865. Prior to independence, slavery existed in all the American colonies and therefore was not an issue of sectional debate. With the arrival of independence, however, the new Northern states--those of New England along with New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey--came to see slavery as contradictory to the ideals of the Revolution and instituted programs of gradual emancipation.1 | 2) The socio-cultural impact of the abolitionist movement including: a) The effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin b) The Kansas-Nebraska Act c) The...
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...With the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which defined the 36th parallel as the border for slave and free states, the growing controversy of slavery and its place in America was acknowledged, igniting the debate over slavery and the fight to keep the union intact, for the next 40 years. However, this line was not a fix-all, for as more territory was added to the US with the notable Texas annexation and the addition of Oregon Country in 1845 and the Mexican Cession of 1848, the struggle to keep the balance of the slave and free states led to an entirely new compromise, the Compromise of 1850, relying on a new idea of popular sovereignty introduced by Lewis Cass, which exercised the political doctrine that the people of federal territories should...
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...of disunion in the United States, it is important to look at different angles of interpretation. Morally, interpretations of the Constitution influence the rights and wrongs of slavery and the laws along with it. Socially, principles and provisions of the Constitution allow for the states to grasp rights, but also allow others to limit them. Politically, viewpoints from political figures on the Constitution bring forward ideas and opinions on laws regarding states’ rights and disunion. By the 1850s, the Constitution became a factor in the failure of the Union due to the opposing...
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...The Union War “Without an appreciation of why loyal citizens believed a Union that guaranteed democratic self-government was worth great sacrifice, no accurate understanding of the Civil War era was possible” (Gallagher). I agree with this statement by Gallagher because if it wasn’t for the decisions and executions of the Union I am not sure if I would be living in a democratic, free society today. In The Union War, Gallagher “offers a companion volume that extends his manifesto against hindsight, what Gallagher calls the ‘Appomattox syndrome,’ to histories of the Union” (Gallagher, 79). According to Gallagher, researchers who work backward from emancipation and Reconstruction have expanded northern devotion to race, slavery, and abolition while complicating loyal Americans’ major war aim, the Union. The above quote stated by Gary Gallagher is one of the main causes as to why the North won the Civil War because with the joining of citizens who wanted to fight for their democratic government, it gave the Union more soldiers that wanted to fight than the Confederates. They won the Civil War simply because they had more people. The North won the Civil War they were on the right side of human ethical issues. They had their best interest in helping the morals of humans and this alone helps citizens be able to trust the Union’s tendencies and this can also make a citizen loyal. The North clearly had more men to fight for them and there were more people that wanted to end slavery,...
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...of Independence, that "all men are made equivalent and are blessed by their inventor with certain unalienable rights." "To an unusual degree," Miller writes, "Lincoln rose to political visibility by moral argument." It is difficult to misrepresent the significance in Lincoln's ethical life story of his 1854 discourse contrary to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which stretched out subjugation to those regions. Lincoln composed that he was “losing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again.” In his location, Lincoln said the...
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...determined to enter the Union as a slave state. With the growing abolitionist sentiment in the North and the South pressing to legalize slavery, permitting Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state would tilt the power of the Senate in favor of the South and make the realization of legalizing slavery more attainable. Since 1809, the issue of slavery had been relatively quiet, but Missouri’s request to enter the Union as a slave state just at the nation was beginning to expand westward, thrust the question of slavery back into the spotlight of national politics. A set of compromises, known as the Missouri Compromise of 1820, allowed Congress to avoid a resolution on the issue of slavery. The Missouri question was the first slavery related political crisis of the 1800’s. It was an attempt to allow slavery in a state considered a free territory. Just after the American Revolution, Congress divided the land ceded by Great Britain in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, into free and slave regions. The Ordinance of 1787 permitted the...
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...Book Report Gienapp, William E., Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America; Oxford University Press. New York, 2002. This book is a glimpse into Abraham Lincoln’s political career and personal life. His personal life was much hidden from the outside world, and his feelings and personal affairs were kept out of public scrutiny. He was neither a great husband nor a father, but was considered to be one of the greatest presidents this nation has ever seen. Lincoln was a very conservative man, and managed to provide leadership in both the political and military strategies. He is considered the man who shaped change in our nation, which led to many controversial issues being solved. It took a man of great strength and courage to lead and control the nation during this very demanding time. He was the right person at the right time. President Abraham Lincoln was born in Nolan Creek, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809. In 1811, his father moved to Indiana due to problems with land titles and to get away from slavery. However, his reason was that slaves competed directly for work opportunities for his father. Lincoln’s formal education was limited due to availability. In his later teen years he began to read anything he could. His first brush with law came in the form of a book entitled “The Revised Laws of Indiana.” In the pursuit of a career, Lincoln arrived in Springfield, Illinois in 1837, where he began his new life as a lawyer. Lincoln held that democracy was the most important...
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...Black Experience in America: Slavery to Emancipation AAAS 106 Professor Shawn Alexander KU 2011 Final Exam Study Guide Some important dates and events - Remember that this guide only gives you a chronology of important events. It is not sufficient for the exam - you must fill in the details from your lecture notes and readings. All the reading is compulsory, do not leave out any portion of the texts or articles. Slavery and the Slave Trade African Slave Trade: Conventional Dates – 1450 – 1867 Early controllers of the Trade: 1494 the Spanish turned to the Portuguese to supply slaves for their colonies. By the 17th C Northern European countries began to dominate the trade. 1621 Dutch West Indies Trading Company 1672 British Royal African Company (by the end of the 17th England dominated the trade.) The Scale of the Trade: Between 1492 and the end of the trade in 1867 Europeans transported a minimum of 10 million people in some 27,000 slaving expeditions – or some 170 slave ships per year. 50% mortality rate (rough estimate) About 95% of the captives were sent to the brutal tropical sugar growing regions of Brazil and the Caribbean. 40% Brazil 5-6% North America Before the trade picked up (1700) 2.2 million Africans had already been shipped to the Americas. The trade climaxed in the 1780s, when 80,000 Africans were shipped a year. 5/4 of all those shipped came in the 18th and 19th centuries. Three major areas in Africa supplied...
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...riGild- to cover boring base metal with a nice precious metal “gilded age” credited to mark twain The great leap forward- the prosperous economic times @ end of gilded age. The great leap forward was mainly concentrated in the north. The main cause of the GLF was the industrialization Throughout the gilded age the north accounted for 80precent of the industrial advancements. Until the 1800’s the only 2 components of the American economy was agriculture and overseas commerce. Then during the war of 1812 that began to change. The north started to do more manufacturing. 3 industries at the core of GLF steel industry railroad industry coal industry steel industry- over 400 steel companies. But only produced 200,000 tons of steel In 1900 – fewer than 80 steel companies But they produce 10million tons of steel Railroad industry – customers of steel coal and timber industry Government realized that railroad was so important So they gave it a lot of land. Coal Industry – Saudi Arabia of coal More here than anyone in the world. The Working People of The Gilded Age. Category A workers – white collar people. Had higher status Doctors Lawyers Ministers Journalists Needed higher education. **category A&B =Middle Class Category B workers – Skilled workers Worked with hands Did not dress nicely to work Got paid very well due to their skills Sometimes more than category A’s Carpenters Plumbers ...
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...First African slaves brought to British America. 15. Virginia begins representative assembly – House of Burgesses 1620: Plymouth Colony is founded. - Mayflower Compact signed – agreed rule by majority • 1624 – New York founded by Dutch 1629: Mass. Bay founded – “City Upon a Hill” - Gov. Winthrop - Bi-cameral legislature, schools 1630: The Puritan Migration 1632: Maryland – for profit – proprietorship 1634 – Roger Williams banished from Mass. Bay Colony 1635: Connecticut founded 1636: Rhode Island is founded – by Roger Williams 23. Harvard College is founded • 1638 – Delaware founded – 1st church, 1st school • 1649 – Maryland Toleration Act – for Christains – latter repealed 1650-1696: The Navigation Acts are enacted by Parliament. - limited trade, put tax on items 1660 – Half Way Covenant – get people back into...
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...Beverly, Rose A. His 221 010 August 27, 2011 Morris, Erin The cultural patterns of the Native American groups prior to European colonization. Even though Christopher Columbus claimed to have discovered the Americas in 1492, it was already inhabited some fifteen to twenty thousand years prior. The glaciers were reduced because of global warming and this gave the nomadic hunters access to the core of the North American continent. Amazingly, this contributed to their food supply abundantly and this produced a swift population growth. More changes became evident in the environment which included a new food source such as fish, nuts and berries. These Native Americans, known as Paleo-Indians, adjusted and propelled forward. Because they were exposed to a new food source they discovered how to cultivate certain plants. At this stage, the Agriculture Revolution was born and this significantly altered the Native American culture. With a more stable food source these Indians became docile and established. This also helped in establishing stable villages and eventually led to some type of government which included elders and leaders. The Eastern Woodland Cultures did not practice agriculture first and foremost but supplemented their food chain with hunting and fishing. They had settled in the northern region along the Atlantic coast. The Algonquian-speaking Natives resided from North Carolina to Main and spoke many different...
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