Unit 4: Jacksonian Democracy/The Young Nation Chapter 11: The Great Transformation – Growth & Expansion 1828-1848.

Unit 4: Jacksonian Democracy/The Young

NationChapter 11: The Great

Transformation – Growth & Expansion 1828-1848

Characteristics of the Antebellum South

Primarily agrarian

Very slow development of industrialization

Economic power shifted from the “upper south” to the “lower south”

“Cotton is King!”

Slave labor

Southern Agriculture

Changes in Cotton Production

1820

1860

Value of Cotton Exports as % of all US Exports

Social Classes of the South

PlantersMade up about 5% of white population, but

controlled large amounts of the best land & the most slaves

Owned 20 or more slavesPlantation mistress bore heavy burden of

responsibilitySocially & politically dominant

Social Classes of the South

Small slaveholdersMade up about 20% of white populationOwned less than 20 slavesFrequently on the move looking for better

land & profits

Slave-Owning Population 1850

Social Classes of the South

YeomanLargest group of southern whites (about

2/3)No slavesOwned their own farms & focused primarily

on food crops for self-sufficiencyDid grow some cash crops & desired to

become slaveholders

Social Classes of the South

Poor WhitesMade up about 10% of white populationOwned no land & no slavesOften squatters or laborers on other farms

Southern Population

Life as a Slave

Differed based on many variables

Only were provided the bare necessities (food, clothing, housing)

Most slaves were employed as field handsOthers were house slaves or

worked in non-field occupations

Viewed as property, not humans

Early Emancipation in the North

Factors Contributing to the Early Industrial Revolution

Govt. protection of rights & inventions in the Constitution (Copyright & Patent Clause)

Govt. support for crucial developments in transportation –canals, roads, railroads

Tariffs to protect domestic manufacturers (Tariff of 1816, 1824, 1828)

Development of corporations with limited liability

Improved education system

The Embargo & War of 1812, both which stimulated a need for domestic manufacturers

Factors Contributing to the Early Industrial Revolution…

Cheap laborPeople moved off the farms & into the cities Increased immigration

New inventionsEli Whitney’s concept of interchangeable partsSamuel Slater’s textile millOliver Evan’s steam engine

Supreme Court decisions took power away from the states

Stable currency under the Second Bank of the U.S.

Moving West

Manifest Destiny

Belief that the U.S. was destined to expand westward to the Pacific

Used to gain public support for American territorial expansion

".... the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federaltive development of self-government entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the space of air and the earth suitable for the full expansion of its principle and destiny of growth.” – John L. O’Sullivan

Oregon Country

Fur traders, land speculators, & people searching for gold traveled the Oregon Trail from St. Louis to the Pacific NW

1830s Missionaries reported the beauty of the landResulted in “Oregon

Fever” of the 1840s

Oregon Country

Democrats in 1844 election called for U.S. ownership of all of Oregon

Oregon Treaty (1846) extended the existing U.S. – Canada boundary at the 49th parallel west to the Pacific

Trails Westward

Mormon Community

Founded by Joseph Smith 1832

Forced to migrate to Illinois due to religious persecution

Under the new leadership of Bringham Young, they moved to the valley of the Great Salt Lake

Didn’t accept strangers & made it difficult for non-Mormons to stay in the region, except Indians, who occupied a central place in Mormon sacred literature

The Texas Question

State in the Republic of Mexico since 1822

By 1835, thousands of Americans had migrated to Texas after the Mexican govt. offered land grants to settlers

With foreigners flooding in, the Mexican govt. saw their power base erode, so they attempted to tighten their controlTexans responded by proclaiming

independence in 1836

The Texas Question

Mexican dictator Santa Anna advanced north & annihilated the Texan garrisons at the Alamo

The Texas Question

Texans refused to give up

Led by Sam Houston, the Texans finally defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto River

Treaty of Velasco (1836) recognized Texas’s independence & acknowledged the Rio Grande as the border between Texas & Mexico

Treaty was never ratified by the Mexican govt.

The Texas Question

Houston asked the U.S. govt. to annex Texas, but Jackson said noConcerned about

the revival of the slavery issue

President Tyler finally admitted Texas to the Union in 1845

Early RailroadsRapid expansion in the West created an increased

demand for transportation & communication between the West & the rest of the nation

1828 Maryland chartered the B & O Railroad, using a steam locomotive

Rail transport couldn’t rival water-based transportation

ProblemsNo coherent network of trackNo standard track sizeBoiler explosions, fires, & derailments