...Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and an American Founding Father. Before all that, however, he was a student at the College of William and Mary where he studied law, where he defended slaves seeking freedom. This was controversial, as Jefferson was known to own several plantations which were worked by hundreds of slaves. It is even believed that he had a relationship with one named Sally Hemings, and he may have even fathered a child with her (Halliday, XI-XII). Jefferson’s life was marked by greatness, however, as he helped bring to light the troubles and possible downfalls that could have shaped America for the worst. Through his presidency, Jefferson changed the United States for the...
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...statehood and ignited a controversy over slavery and a balance of power in the Senate that would span two sessions of Congress and threaten the dissolution of the Union and a civil war. Prior to the Missouri question, the Union had eleven free states and eleven slave states, each with two Senators. The Missouri Territory, carved out of land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, covered an expanse of land just north of the Ohio River and just west of the Mississippi (these rivers joined in the southeastern corner of the territory). According to the terms of the Ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, the Missouri Territory was designated a free territory, but many of the settlers had brought their slaves with them when they settled the area and were 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...
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...The thought of slavery playing a role in starting the Civil war has been talked about amongst professional historians for years. Slavery had a big impact on the North and South in multiple ways, and because it was such a controversial topic it would eventually take part in starting the Civil War. You might think that the Civil War was just to see if the black man was free or not, but there were many underlying factors that brought about the war. In fact, many people didn't even fight for the reason of slavery, most of them fought for moral reasons and to protect their way of life. Like I said, there are many reasons that slavery was so controversial, but some really important ones were the disagreements of the international slave trade, the...
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...Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. by Joseph J. Ellis. In Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis, the “Brothers” in the titles are Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Although there are controversies about Joseph Ellis leaving out the “sister” that also has an important role in the revolutionary, Abigail Adams. Reading this book, I learned a lot about America’s founding fathers of whom I never knew about. Such as the politicals learnings and how our nation ran. The book itself is sectioned off like episodes of a T.V show: a duel between Hamilton and Burr; a dinner consisting of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison that...
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...Thomas Jefferson By Juan Garcia Introduction The third president of the United States, Jefferson is most famous as the author of the Declaration of Independence, a document that served as a profound expression of his own beliefs on equality and natural rights, as well as a concise articulation of the revolutionary impulses of an emerging nation. Long revered as one of America's founding fathers, Jefferson remains the subject of intense scholarly debate in the twenty-first century. Of particular interest to current critics and historians are his views on the separation of church and state, and the inconsistency between his well-documented belief in individual liberty and his status as a slave owner. His views on Native Americans, African-Americans, and women are considered at odds with the principle of universal equality he claimed in the Declaration to be “self-evident.” Biographical Information Jefferson was born at Shadwell, in Goochland (now Albemarle) County, Virginia. His father was a self-made man and an early settler of the Virginia wilderness, and his mother was a member of a prominent Colonial family, the Randolphs. Jefferson attended private schools and the College of William and Mary, where he studied law, science, literature, and philosophy. He was admitted to the bar in 1767 and practiced law for two years. In 1769 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. During that same year he designed and began building Monticello, his famous family home, in...
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...Cotton production and slavery were more of a burden to the South than a benefit because it stifled lower class opportunity, discouraged immigration, enslaved the South to the North, and made the entire region’s economy too heavily dependent on one crop. The lion share of cotton in the South was cultured on plantations, plantations were owned by the wealthy; additionally, the wealthy bought up a majority of the agricultural land in the South, greatly reducing the amount poorer class farmers could purchase to pursue economic prosperity. Furthermore, the wealthy manned their plantations with slaves, creating a system that had little to no opportunities for lower classes to advance in society. This system discouraged immigration, both from the...
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...Preface: The Generation In the preface, Joseph Ellis takes his time in explaining the importance of the American Revolution. He starts off by stating that during the 1780’s everyone thought that it was only natural that America verge away from British rule. They all figured that it would be a gradual change; not a full blown revolution. Throughout the chapter, Ellis puts great emphasis on the many things that could have gone wrong during the revolution. He points all these negative events and set backs that he felt could easily have brought the developing America down to show just how great of an accomplishment the revolution was. The Founding Fathers were not completely oblivious to the severity of breaking away from Great Britain. Tom Pain states that, “it is only common sense that an island can not rule a continent (pg.3).” Many assumed that it was only natural that the thirteen colonies govern themselves. They figured that it would be a peaceful break such as the gaining of independence for Ghana or Canada. It was not until later on that the colonies realized that Britain would not easily hand over the land. What I find interesting is that only the Founding Fathers seemed to realize the great events taking place during their time. John Adams even instructed his wife to file and keep all of his records. It is as if he knew that hundreds of years from then, we the future Americans would look back at his notes and recognize his greatness. This makes me wonder why they...
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...Civil War History Paper The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a civil war between the United States (the "Union") and the Southern slave states of the newly-formed Confederate States of America under Jefferson Davis. The Union included all of the free states and the five slaveholding border states and was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United States. Republican victory in the presidential election of 1860 led seven Southern states to declare their secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office.[1] The Union rejected secession, regarding it as rebellion. Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a large volunteer army, then four more Southern states declared their secession. In the war's first year, the Union assumed control of the border states and established a naval blockade as both sides massed armies and resources. In 1862, battles such as Shiloh and Antietam caused massive casualties unprecedented in U.S. military history. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal, which complicated the Confederacy's manpower shortages. In the East, Confederate commander Robert E. Lee won a series of victories over Union armies, but Lee's reverse at Gettysburg in early July, 1863...
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...Laboring classes 5. Repeal of Stamp Act; passage of Declaratory Act E. Internal colonial disputes 1. Tenant uprising in Hudson Valley 2. Tenant uprising in Green Mountains 3. Regulators in South Carolina 4. Regulators in North Carolina II. The road to revolution A. Townshend crisis 1. Provisions of Townshend duties 2. Colonial response, home-spun virtue a. Revival of boycott on British goods b. American-made goods as symbol of resistance c. Reawakening of popular protest B. Boston Massacre 1. Stationing of troops in Boston 2. The massacre 3. Popular indignation C. An uneasy calm 1. Repeal of Townshend duties; withdrawal of troops from Boston 2. Lifting of boycott 3. Persisting suspicions of Britain 4. John Wilkes controversy 5. Anglican church rumors D. Tea and Intolerable Acts 1. Tea Act a. Roots in global commercial developments b. Contents 2. Colonial response a. Resistance in ports b. Boston Tea...
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...The Age of Reason, Part I (1794)- Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (1737-1809) - was born in England in 1737, a son of a Quaker. In 1774, Thomas Paine met Benjamin Franklin in London and was invited to immigrate to America. He landed in Philadelphia on November 30, 1774. Working as a publicist, he first published African Slavery in America in 1775, criticizing slavery in America as being unjust to the African slaves. After the Boston Tea party, Thomas Paine had a sensed of rebellion against the British government. He published Common Sense stating America had lost touch with its mother country, Great Britain. “Nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments and common sense.” Thomas Paine had a great influence on the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. He also fought and volunteered during the Independence War. In 1787, Thomas Paine left for England. He was involved in the French Revolution. He was imprisoned in 1793. He published The Age of Reason while he was imprisoned. He went back to the America in 1802 after invited by Thomas Jefferson, who was a true admirer of him. But he realized he was forgotten by the works he had done for America. The Age of Reason was written by Thomas Paine while he was imprisoned in 1794 due to the opposition of the execution of the king Louis XVI of France. The Age of Reason was a praise of the achievement of the Age of Enlightment. He was also accused as being an atheist because of the book. Thomas Paine presented in a clear style of way to...
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...would end on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered in Appomattox, Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, ending what became known as the American Civil War (Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, and Stoff, 2006). In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, America went into two different economical directions: the North became industrial the South agricultural. Although it is believed the underlying cause behind the Civil War was due to the abolition of slavery (slaves were considered a major asset in the southern states), the following timeline shows there were many other factors involved as well. From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the firing of the first shots at Fort Sumter, America’s journey for equality and unity was a hard one, leaving in its wake destruction, discord, and civil unrest. ____________________________________________________________ ____________ 1776: Declaration of Independence • Was written by Thomas Jefferson • Was signed on July 4th, severing all ties to Britain 1787: Northwest Ordinance • Was passed on July 13th establishing the intent to expand into the West adding new states to the Union. Constitutional Convention • Held their final meeting on September 17th signing into effect the Constitution of the United States. 1794: The Cotton Gin • Was patented by Eli Whitney, increasing the production of clean cotton • The value of and need for slaves increased within...
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...Cahokia(地名)：City of Cahokia near present-day St. Louis. A culture flourished in there with 10000 to 30000 inhabitants lived there for 1200 years. It stood as the largest settled community in what is now the United States until surpassed超过 in population by New York and Philadelphia around 1800. “cousinocracy” : In the early colony period, America had no title aristocracy贵族 as in Britain. But throughout British America, men of prominence突出卓越 controlled colonial government. In Virginia, the upper class was so tightly knit and intermarried so often that the colony was said to be governed by a “cousinocracy.” Loyalists拥护者：Loyalists—those who retained their allegiance效忠 to the crown—experienced the conflict and its aftermath后果 as a loss of liberty. Many leading Loyalists had supported American resistance in the 1760s Columbian Exchange： The transatlantic大西洋彼岸（美国） flow of goods and people is sometimes called the Columbian Exchange. The transatlantic flow of goods and people that began with Columbus’s voyages in 1492. Stono Rebellion A slave uprising in 1739 in South Carolina that led to a severe tightening of the slave code and the temporary imposition of a prohibitive tax on imported slaves. Lemuel Haynes 名 : Lemuel Haynes, a black member of the Massachusetts militia民兵 and later a celebrated minister, urged Americans to “extend” their conception of freedom. Black Legend: Idea that the Spanish New World Empire was more oppressive沉重压迫 toward the Indians than...
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...APUSH Study Guide 8 A weak Confederacy and the Constitution, 1776-1790 Themes/Constructs: The federal Constitution represented a moderately conservative reaction against the democratilizing effects of the Revolution and the Articles of Confederation. The American Revolution was not a radical transformation like the French or Russian revolutions, but it produced political innovations and some social change in the direction of greater equality and democracy. The American Revolution did not overturn the social order, but it did produce substantial changes in social customs, political institutions, and ideas about society and government. Among the changes were the separation of church and state in some places, the abolition of slavery in the North, written political constitutions, and a shift in political power from the eastern seaboard toward the frontier. The first weak government, the Articles of Confederation, was unable to exercise real authority, although it did successfully deal with the western lands issue. The Confederation’s weakness in handling foreign policy, commerce and the Shays Rebellion spurred the movement to alter the Articles. Instead of revising the Articles, the well-off delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a charter for a whole new government. In a series of compromises, the convention produced a plan that provided for a vigorous central government, a strong executive, the protection for property, while still upholding republican...
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...restrained sense of the word, since the change from Federalist leadership to Republican was entirely legal and bloodless. Nevertheless, the changes were profound. The Federalists lost control of both the presidency and the Congress. By 1800, the American people were ready for a change. Under Washington and Adams, the Federalists had established a strong government. They sometimes failed, however, to honor the principle that the American government must be responsive to the will of the people. They had followed policies that alienated large groups. For example, in 1798 they enacted a tax on houses, land and slaves, affecting every property owner in the country. Jefferson had steadily gathered behind him a great mass of small farmers, shopkeepers and other workers; they asserted themselves in the election of 1800. Jefferson enjoyed extraordinary favor because of his appeal to American idealism. In his inaugural address, the first such speech in the new capital of Washington, D.C., he promised "a wise and frugal government" to preserve order...
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...I. Introduction A. Hook or Attention Grabber: (Story) The Democratic Party was formed in 1792, when followers of Thomas Jefferson began using the name republicans, to give special importance that they are anti government to be govern by the people. Democracy adopted its present name during the elections and presidency of Andrew Jackson in the 1830s. Around the 1840s and 1850s, the party was in fight over having slavery to the western territories. Southern Democrats demanded to protect slavery in all the territories while many Northern Democrats tried to keep them out of their territories. The party split over the slavery issue in 1860 at the presidential convention in Charleston, South Carolina. B. Thesis: Democracy is important since it lets everyone to have the chance to a say or a voice in the government. With democracy, everyone is treated fairly and equal. And that is why democracy is surely the best form of government. C. Purpose: to share with my audience that democracy is the political party you should be voting for. D. Preview of Main Points: 1. Since the 1890's the Democratic Party has favored "liberal" positions to have social and political views that favors progress and reforms and policies and views that advocate individual freedom. 2. Every citizen of this country pays a lot of taxes already; the Democratic Party favors in cutting taxes for the middle class and leaving it the same for the rich, wealthy people. 3. I discovered that the Democratic Party is...
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