THE FOUNDING OF A NATION(1776-1814) LET II. INTRODUCTION The Formative Years was a period of internal struggle, growth, and change for the United States.

THE FOUNDING OF A NATION(1776-1814)

LET II

• INTRODUCTION

• The Formative Years was a period of internal struggle, growth, and change for the United States. Although the nation underwent its most devastating war, The Civil War, it also experienced many inventions, personal achievements, and evolutions in the arts.

• During this period, the U.S. evolved into one of the strongest and most influential countries in the world.

• THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR• After the War of 1812, America did not

engage in any conflicts until 1845 when the U.S. annexed Texas.

• Texas originally became a part of Mexico in 1821. Soon after, Stephen Austin arranged with the Mexican government to settle 300 American families in Texas. Then, in 1834, General Antonio Santa Anna, who was called the “Napoleon of the West,” became dictator of Mexico, threw out its constitution, and established a centralist government.

• One year later, the Americans in Texas revolted against Santa Anna’s government and seized the Mexican garrison at San Antonio. Although they were defeated at the Alamo in 1836, the Texans under Sam Houston crushed Santa Anna’s forces at San Jacinto and captured him. To regain his freedom, Santa Anna signed a treaty recognizing Texan independence. The new republic of Texas included parts of present-day Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. However, the Mexican government did not recognize Santa Anna’s treaty and removed him from office.

• To regain his freedom, Santa Anna signed a treaty recognizing Texan independence. The new republic of Texas included parts of present-day Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. However, the Mexican government did not recognize Santa Anna’s treaty and removed him from office.

• Texas remained a republic from 1836 until it was admitted to the Union as the 28th state in December 1845. But, Mexico, still claimed Texas and border disputes developed. One of these disputes was over the boundary between Texas and Mexico. Texas claimed the Rio Grande River as its southwestern border; Mexico said it was the Nueces River.

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S A N A N T O N I O N E W O R L E A N S

F O R T L E A V E N W O R T H

• THE CAUSES OF WAR

• Mexico refused to recognize the annex ation of Texas by the U.S. in 1845.

• Mexico owed U.S. citizens about $3 million to make up for the lives and property lost in Mexico through revo lution, theft, and confiscation since the 1820s. By the 1840s, many Americans demanded that the U.S. collect these debts by force..

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• Mexico owed U.S. citizens about $3 million to make up for the lives and property lost in Mexico through revo lution, theft, and confiscation since the 1820s. By the 1840s, many Americans demanded that the U.S. collect these debts by force.

• THE FIRST YEAR OF WAR (1846)

• By 1846, the Americans and Mexicans had been fighting for a year when Congress finally declared a state of war.

• The U.S. had two aims in the Mexican – American War: to occupy the territory that Mexico had been asked to sell and to invade Mexico in order to force them to agree to peace. President Polk went into the war clearly wanting to seize all of Mexico north of the Rio Grande and Gila Rivers and westward to the Pacific.

• However, before the U.S. issued a declaration of war, General Taylor’s force engaged the Mexicans in two battles north of the Rio Grande: at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.

• THREE-PRONGED THRUST INTO MEXICO

• After discussions between General Winfield Scott and President Polk, the strategy of a three-pronged thrust emerged. Taylor was to continue westward through Matamoros to the strategic city of Monterrey

• Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan was to lead a second thrust down the middle of Mexico through Chihuahua to Parras.

• . A third prong under Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny was to proceed through Santa Fe on to San Diego, California.

• Even with all of the victories by the U.S. armed forces, Mexico refused to negotiate and the war continued into 1847.

• THE FINAL YEAR OF WAR (1847)

THE BATTLE OF THE SACRAMENTO

• In one of the first major battles of the year, Doniphan’s army in the middle thrust won the furious Battle of the Sacramento just outside Chihuahua on 27 February, and marched into Chihuahua on 2 March.

» THE BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA

» To end this war, President Polk and his military advisors decided to land an army at Veracruz and strike a blow at Mexico City. However, Santa Anna — who was 200 miles to the south at San Luis Potosi — learned of the American plans and immediately led a 20,000-man army against Taylor at Buena Vista.

» On 21 February, Taylor was surprised to find Santa Anna facing him with an army that outnumbered the Americans three to one. The hardest battle of this war began.

• When it appeared that the Americans would be driven from the battlefield, down from the north came Colonel Jefferson Davis leading the Mississippi Rifles and the troops from Indiana, supported by two artillery batteries.

The Mexican attack was stopped cold as the Mexicans were forced back into their original positions.

The Battle of Buena Vista was the final major action in northern Mexico; it was significant because it ended any further Mexican threat to the Rio Grande valley.

• DID YOU KNOW? General Taylor became a hero because of his victories and was elected the 12th President of the United States in 1848.

• CONCLUSION

• A U.S. victory was certain after U.S. forces captured Veracruz (March 1847), defeated General Santa Anna (April), and entered Mexico’s capital city (September).

• The Mexican–American War also served as a training ground for many of America’s greatest military leaders on both sides of the next U.S. war — the Civil War. Some of these leaders from the Mexican – American War who went on to distinguish themselves in the Civil War were: Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Joseph E. Johnston, George G. Meade, P.G.T. Beaureguard, William T. Sherman, Braxton Bragg, and Jefferson Davis.

• THE CIVIL WAR

• THE CAUSES OF WAR

• Beginning in colonial times, the North and South developed different lifestyles. If you traveled through the North you would see small farms harvesting grain or hay or raising livestock.

• If you traveled through the South, you would see many cotton fields. In the North, there were growing cities with busy factories.

• Then, on 2 February 1848, Mexico gave up claim to Texas at the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

• Many of the differences between the North and South were due to the lack of roadways that would allow easy travel from one area to another. Without an effective means of transportation and communication, the two areas easily established different lifestyles.

• In the area of states’ rights, many Southerners claimed that the North was trying to assert national power over the rights of the individual states. The southern states believed that the non-slave-holding states had no right to dictate laws that put restrictions on the slave-holding states.

• While many Northerners believed in states’ rights, they also believed in preserving the Union and punishing the South for its “rebellion against the nation.”

• Unfortunately, the North and South could not agree on many issues, especially slavery. Although there were other economic and social differences between them, the most important disagreements were over slavery and the South’s desire for a strong local government versus the North’s desire for a powerful Union.

• When the United States elected Lincoln, the South responded to their new president by seceding from the Union. By 1861, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Virginia, and Texas joined South Carolina and formed a new nation.

• They drew up the Constitution for the Confederate States of America and elected Senator Jefferson Davis as their president. On 12 April 1861, the Civil War began.

• THE FIRST MAJOR BATTLE

•The Battle of Bull Run on 21 July 1861 was an exercise in confusion as two ill-trained and ill-disciplined armies locked in fierce combat. Delays by McDowell allowed Confederate reinforcements to arrive and to strengthen their lines.

• At first, it seemed that the Federal forces had the upper hand, but after the arrival of Confederate reinforce ments combined with the confusion created by Confederate troops in blue uniforms marching into the Union lines, the fate of this battle was still undecided.

• A Confederate brigade under General Thomas Jackson held firm against a savage Union charge just as the Confederate reinforcements arrived. Observing Jackson’s men, another Confederate officer yelled, “There’s Jackson, standing like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians.” Jackson earned his famous “Stonewall” nickname from this encounter. The Union charge stalled.

• THE WAR AT SEA

• The North set the pace for the war at sea from the very beginning when President Lincoln established the naval blockade. Within a year, the Union armed and sent almost anything that could float to stations off southern ports. Although a number

• IMPACT OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

• On 22 September 1862, after President Lincoln had been persuaded that the Battle of Antietam was a Union victory, he issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation. He stated that if the Confederate states did not return to the Union by 1 January 1863, he would declare all Confederate slaves “forever free.” When the Confederacy refused his offer, he issued the Emancipation Proc lamation on New Year’s Day, 1863.

• LINCOLN FINALLY FINDS A GENERAL

• In March 1864, President Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and named him the General in Chief of the Union forces.

• FINAL VICTORY AND SURRENDER• With the support of the people behind him,

President Lincoln urged General Grant to continue with the plans to destroy the Confederate forces. Grant ordered Sherman to proceed up through the Carolinas to link up with Meade’s Army of the Potomac on the James River. With Sherman advancing from the south and Schofield from the east, that would cut Lee off from the other Confederate forces. Then, all Union forces would surround Richmond to administer the death blow to Lee’s army.

• Realizing how desperate his situation was, Lee advised President Davis to evacuate Richmond, then he moved his army from Petersburg heading west. Lee hoped to maneuver around Grant’s forces and to link up with Johnston. One week later, with rations completely gone and his line of retreat cut off by Sheridan at Appomattox, Lee reasoned that to continue the fight was hopeless. There, at Appomattox Court House, on 9 April 1865, Lee surrendered his army to Grant.

• RESULTS OF THE CIVIL WAR

The U.S. abolished slavery with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.

• The Civil War brought about the introduction of the following develop ments that changed the nature and conduct of war:

• Railroads

• Steamships and armored ships

• Torpedoes (mines) and submarines

• Rifled artillery and small arms

• Telegraph communications

• Balloons for aerial observation

• Large-scale industrial production effort

• THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

• In 1898, the United States was again at war, this time against Spain in what is known as the Spanish - American War. Although this war lasted only 16 weeks, it is an important part of America’s history.

• America went to war on the side of Cuba to help that country gain its freedom from Spain.

• In addition to the naval war, U.S. ground forces in Cuba, including the famed Rough Riders, also fought and won in battles such as El Canay and San Juan Hill. The war proved that the United States had one of the most powerful military forces in the world.

• According to the terms of the peace treaty, signed in December 1898, Spain gave Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States and agreed to give up its claim to Cuba. Cuba became a free nation in 1902.

• THE AMERICAN CULTURE

• The Civil War affected the culture of the United States in many ways. Its influence is evident in music, literature, and personal achievements.

• MUSIC• Americans produced many songs

during the 1800s as a direct result of the Civil War. These songs, arranged in chronological order, outline the events of the war. One of the more moving songs to come out of this period was “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written by Julia Ward Howe.

• Another famous song to come out of the Civil War period was “Dixie.” Written by the Northerner Daniel Emmett, the song soon became a symbol for the South. Slaves used the word “Dixie” when they referred to the South.

• LITERATURE

• Literature is often an expression of history.

• In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book expressed Stowe’s opposition to slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a fictional account of a southern plantation. Southerners claimed the novel exaggerated the harshness of slavery. But, it became one of the most popular historical novels ever written, and a very successful stage play as well.

• PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS• Clara Barton was an extremely

dedicated humanitarian. Called the Angel of the Battlefield during the Civil War, she set up a medical supply service, was a camp and battlefield nurse, and led searches for the missing. After working for the International Red Cross, she organized the American Red Cross

• After the Civil War, former slave George Washington Carver began 47 years of agricultural research at Tuskeegee Institute. He discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut, sweet potato, and soybean, and devised many products from cotton waste.

• 1800s came from Daniel Hale Williams, a black surgeon. In 1891, Williams founded Provident Hospital in Chicago, the country’s first interracial hospital, where in 1893, he performed the nation’s first open-heart surgery.

• CONCLUSION• In just over 100 years, Americans

established a nation that was united and dedicated to ensuring equality for all. The 1800s were a time for the United States to grow. After emerging from the Civil War as one united nation, the American culture opened the door for many minorities by allowing them to develop and express their ideas and talents.