# data[].attributes.body
Abraham's aim was never to start war nor to maintain peace. President Abraham ended slavery.

# data[].attributes.headline
Industrial Revolution (Before American Civil War)

# data[].attributes.subject
Industrial Revolution (Before American Civil War)

# data[].attributes.body
Before the Civil War a significant number of inventions and innovations appeared, transforming American life. For example a telegraph system, transportation system, store bought good were more affordable.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Content Standards

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS.D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

NCSS.D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

Preparation

Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out selected documents and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.

Download the set of worksheets, Americans at Work, available here as a PDF. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.

For background information on the First Industrial Revolution, consult the following EDSITEment resources:

From American Studies at the University of Virginia

Chapter V of American System of Manufactures, by John Sawyer

This lesson features 23 potential role assignments, first-hand accounts through which students enter the lives of working Americans. Having many assignments allows flexibility—some can be assigned to individuals, others to pairs or small groups. Two assignments (17 and 18) require little reading but do offer the opportunity to gather information and make conclusions. Students must judge whether or not an account indicates dramatic, rapid change. It is not expected or essential that every article be covered. Students should read the introductions to the passages, when present, as they are useful.
A chart is provided for students to use in compiling notes and coming to conclusions on the cases of six individuals. This handout could also be adapted to suit your own individual classroom goals. Decide how students will be assigned (or choose) cases on which to take notes.

It should be noted that there is a built-in bias in the readings in that totally contented workers would be less likely to compose some of the kinds of first-hand accounts offered here. Stress to the students the need to look for indicators of change when arriving at conclusions for the central question, "Was the First American Industrial Revolution really a revolution?" Dissatisfaction, while often widespread in times of rapid change, should not by itself be taken to signify evidence of change in the absence of other evidence. The chart does dedicate some space to quality of life issues, which are interesting and can be discussed as desired.

For further reading, consult the Recommended Reading List provided here as a PDF.

Lesson Activities

Activity 1. Reading First-Hand Accounts

In this activity, students will read "First-hand Accounts from the Industrial Revolution" on pages 1–4 of the PDF (see Preparation for download instructions), which detail experiences of individuals during the period of early industrialization in the U.S. Depending on your class, these passages can be assigned to individuals, pairs, or small groups. After the passages have been carefully read, one student will play the role listed while being interviewed by class members.

Activity 2. Role Playing and Class Interviews

For each reading assigned, one student will be interviewed briefly by the class. Answers must come from the article or be reasonable extensions of it. The interview subject can pass on some questions. Interviewees should be introduced according to the role they have been assigned. Questions should focus on that role. As the interviews are conducted, students can fill out the chart "The Lives of Americans During the First Industrial Revolution" on page 5 of the PDF (see Preparing to Teach This Lesson for download instructions).

Activity 3. Drawing Conclusions

What conclusions have the students drawn? Based on the interviews and other knowledge of the period students have gained, were working Americans living in a period of dramatic and rapid economic change? Was the First American Industrial Revolution really a revolution? If desired, let any disagreement among students lead to a class debate.

Lesson Extensions

Conduct any of the lessons from Unit Two: Early Industrialization, outlined in the EDSITEment resource Whole Cloth, including the game "Industrial Life."

Students can use narrative and descriptive strategies to create lively accounts of the lives of American workers during the Industrial Revolution based on the first-hand accounts.

Students can further explore the United States Historical Census Browser, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website History Matters.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

American Memory

Emergence of Advertising in America

Timeline: Emergence of Advertising in America

Anesthesia (1941 or 1942)

Boiler (1942)

Compass (1943)

Cotton Gin (1938)

Microscope (1943)

Plow Between (1945 and 1982)

Printing Press (Between 1930 and 1950)

Reaper/Harvester (1936)

Rotary Press (1944)

Steamboat (Between 1930 and 1950)

Telegraph (1942)

Train (Steam Engine) (Between 1930 and 1950)

Transit 1939

American Studies at the University of Virginia

American System of Manufactures

Smithsonian National Museum of American History

19th Century Fashion and the Sewing Machine

American Westward Migration

Belter Sidechair

Boiler of the Stourbridge Lion 1829

Color Daguerreotypes

Description of First Run/Significance of the Stourbridge Lion

Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin

Engines of Change

First mass-produced American stopwatch

First Pocket Watch Made By Production Machinery (1852)

First Successful Commercial Microscope (1850s) … In The United States

History of the Telegraph

Hoe Four-Cylinder Rotary Press 1843

Howe's Sewing Machine Patent Model

Image of an early version of inline skates

Isaac Singer

John Bull Locomotive

John Deere Plow 1830s

John Henry Belter

Mill

Oldest Extant Surveyor's Transit (1830s)

One of the First Operational Steam Vessels in the United States Navy. Completed In 1841

Photo Micrograph

Pivotal Typecaster

Samuel Morse

Sewing Machines

Solar Compass (1840s)

Steam Locomotive

Text about the skates

Wolcott Camera

At Home in the Heartland

Newspaper Ads from 1840 (Alton Telegraph, Illinois)

At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past -- Geo. L. Ward

At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past -- Iron Goods

At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past -- Stoves

History Matters

David Johnson Recalls the Shoemakers' Shops of Lynn, Massachusetts

"Factories are talked about as schools of vice: Elias Nason Considers Careers"

"The Happiest Laboring Class in the World: Two Virginia Slaveholders Debate Methods of Slave Management, 1837"

"I Must of Course Have Something of My Own Before Many More Years Have Passed Over My Head: Sally Rice Leaves the Farm," 1838 by Sally Rice

I Was a Cabinet Maker by Trade, 1825-1835

Lowell Girls Go on Strike, 1836

Manager N. B. Gordon Tends to the Union Cotton and Woolen Manufactory in Mansfield, Massachusetts, 1829

"The Natural Tie Between Master and Apprentice has been Rent Asunder: An Old Apprentice Laments Changes in the Workplace," 1826

The Canal Boat: Nathaniel Hawthorne Travels the Erie Canal (1835)

"No One Ever Hurried During 'Cake-time': Work and Leisure a New York Shipyard," 1835

"So Cheapened the White Man's Labor: White Artisans Contest the Labor of Black Workers," 1838

"They Must Work Harder Than Ever: A Working Man Remembers Life in New York City," 1830s

"The Treatment of the Help in Those Days Was Cruel: Hiram Munger Remembers Factory Life" by Hiram Munger (early 19th century)

"We Call on You to Deliver Us from the Tyrant's Chain: Lowell Women Workers Campaign for a Ten-Hour Workday" (circa 1845)

"Are We Nothing But Living Machines? A New York Sewing Woman Protests Wages and Working Conditions," 1863

"Elevate Us to a Free and Independent Position: William J. Brown (a free black) Looks for Work," 1831

Liberty Rhetoric and 19th Century Women

Drawing of a Mill Girl, from the Cover of the Lowell Offering, 1840

Fabric Label for Merrimack Power Loom Jeans Yardage, c. 1830

Timetable of the Lowell Mills

Tintype of Two Woman Weavers, 1860 (Merrimack Valley Textile Museum)

Title Page of the Lowell Offering, 1840

Life on the Farm

United States Historical Census Browser

Internet Medieval History Sourcebook

Internet Modern History Sourcebook

Lowell Mill Girls (1832-1848)

The Two Countries That Invented the Industrial Revolution

Internet Public Library

The American Experience

Anesthesia

Cotton Gin

McCormick Reaper

Sewing Machine

Steam Engine

Technology Timeline

Telegraph

Links to the Past

National Park Service

John J. Hall at Harper's Ferry

Whole Cloth

Alexander Telfair, "Plantation Rules," from Ulrich Phillips, ed., Plantation and Frontier, Volume 1 (New York, Burt Frantlin, 1910)

"Plantation Management," De Bow's XIV (February 1853): 177–78

Regulations to Be Observed by All Individuals Employed in the Lewiston Mills

Tsongas Industrial History Center (NOTE: According to the Resources Section of Whole Cloth, the Tsongas Center is an interactive

museum about the Industrial Revolution, geared for students in grades 4–12.)

Curriculum Materials Page

"Workers on the Line"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Was There an Industrial Revolution? Americans at Work Before the Civil War

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this lesson, students explore the First Industrial Revolution in early nineteenth-century America. By reading and comparing first-hand accounts of the lives of workers before the Civil War, students prepare for a series of guided role-playing activities designed to help them make an informed judgment as to whether the changes that took place in manufacturing and distribution during this period are best described as a 'revolution' or as a steady evolution over time.

# data[].attributes.body
The United States began to provide significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies in September 1940. the United States contracted Lend-Lease agreements with more than 30 countries, dispensing some $50 billion in assistance.

# data[].attributes.body
Allowing women the right to vote.  It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right.

# data[].attributes.body
With the passage of the 13th Amendment—which states that “[n]either slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”—the central contradiction at the heart of the Founding was resolved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Slavery and the Constitution | A More or Less Perfect Union | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Even the framers of the constitution recognized that slavery was against the values of the American revolution. So why did most of the nation’s founding fathers own slaves? Judge Douglas Ginsburg sheds some light on the subject.

# data[].attributes.body
The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves.

# data[].attributes.body
Pioneers traveled to Oregon and California using a network of trails leading west. Louisiana Purchase, Native American Removal, Territorial Gains, Pony Express

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A significant push toward the west coast of North America began in the 1810s. It was intensified by the belief in manifest destiny, federally issued Indian removal acts, and economic promise. Pioneers traveled to Oregon and California using a network of trails leading west. In 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner declared the frontier closed, citing the 1890 census as evidence, and with that, the period of westward expansion ended.

Explore these resources to learn more about what happened between 1810 and 1893, as immigrants, American Indians, United States citizens, and freed slaves moved west.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Westward Expansion | National Geographic Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A significant push toward the west coast of North America began in the 1810s. It was intensified by the belief in manifest destiny, federally issued Indian removal acts, and economic promise. Pioneers traveled to Oregon and California using a network of trails leading west.

# data[].attributes.body
Peace activism in the United States between 1945 and the 2010s focused mostly on opposition to U.S. foreign policy. Their efforts were to strengthen and foster international cooperation, and wanted support for nuclear nonproliferation and arms control.

# data[].attributes.body
Factories and the help of a workforce that built and focused on America's growth as an industrial and business power overall!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
- [Voiceover] So, we were talking about the wealth inequality that characterized the Gilded Age, but you were telling me that that's not the only thing, Kim, that characterizes this period. - [Voiceover] Right, what really makes the Gilded Age happen is what we call the Second Industrial Revolution. Are you familiar with the First Industrial Revolution? - [Voiceover] But, of course. - [Voiceover] So, that was the revolution where they had steamships and canals and kinda this early creation of the market system in the United States, say like 1820s-1830s. The Second Industrial Revolution is more of a revolution of mass production, I would say, and ways of making and shipping and communicating about business transactions and materials that didn't exist before. - [Voiceover] So, what are some of these disruptive technologies (Kim laughs) that are really poised to change the shipment paradigm? So, okay, so off the top of my head, trains probably a huge deal in this period? - [Voiceover] Yes. - [Voiceover] So, we've got all this coal going and that means that there's a lot of smelting happening and that means that there's also a lot of steel happening too. - [Voiceover] Steel. I think if I had to choose one most important technology of the Gilded Age, it would have to be steel. Now, it's not like steel didn't actually exist before this. - [Voiceover] Right, steel had been around for millennia. - [Voiceover] Yeah, I think so. - [Voiceover] Millennium. - [Voiceover] But, what happens in this time period is there's a new process for making steel. It's called the Bessemer process. And the Bessemer process basically makes steel faster and it makes it cheaper. And in this time period, Andrew Carnegie we talked about being this major steel baron, railroads throughout the United States, partly supported, majorly supported by the U.S. government. And during this period, they lay 40,000 miles of new tracks of rail. - [Voiceover] That is so many miles. - [Voiceover] That is so many miles. - [Voiceover] How long is the United States from Los Angeles to New York? (Kim laughs) Like 3,000 miles? 3,100 miles? - [Voiceover] Yes. So, just imagine a nation where most railroad tracks had gone through sort of the eastern coastal cities up until 1865. Now, the entire country is connected by rail. There's more rail in the United States in 1900 than all of Europe combined. - [Voiceover] So, the Bessemer process of making steel is this foundational technology that enables a lot of the Gilded Age to happen. - [Voiceover] Right, so it enables the United States to move out and also to connect markets. So, you can now take raw materials from the West, which is really important, that's where the gold lives and also cattle ranching, you take those things from the West, you take them to the cities to be processed. Then, you take the finished goods and send them back out into the smaller towns. So, rail facilitates all of that. - [Voiceover] So, this is how my hometown became notorious-- - [Voiceover] Yeah. - [Voiceover] of Chicago. So, there would be cattle drives, I guess then, that came from the West and then they would all be slaughtered and processed in Chicago. - [Voiceover] Right, yeah. I'm a native Pennsylvanian, you're a native Chicagoan, and we are born from steel places, as the steel industry really grew up in Pittsburgh. And what I think is really interesting about steel too is that it's like a self-sustaining industry because you need the steel to make the railroads. And then, the railroad industry pays for the creation of steel, which facilitates the creation of more railroads, which necessitates the creation of more steel and it's just like this never-ending boom in steel in the Gilded Age. So, steel facilitates the United States moving outward, but it also facilitates the United States moving upward. - [Voiceover] Oh, I see what you did. That was good. - [Voiceover] Yeah, you like that? - [Voiceover] Yeah. - [Voiceover] So, steel allows for the construction of buildings that are taller than ever before. - [Voiceover] So, what is this building here? - [Voiceover] This building here is the Home Insurance Building in Chicago. I don't believe it is there anymore. And do you know what is special about the Home Insurance Building? - [Voiceover] No, what's special about it? - [Voiceover] The Home Insurance Building is considered to be the world's first skyscraper. - [Voiceover] What?! Awesome! - [Voiceover] Yeah, it looks pretty short for a skyscraper by modern standards. - [Voiceover] I mean, I couldn't build a building that tall. - [Voiceover] That's 10 stories tall. And what you can do with steel is build these steel-frame structures that allow you, without using stone, there's kind of like a steel cage underneath the facade of this. And so, you can build buildings that are taller while having windows. - [Voiceover] It's like a Faraday cage. I bet there was terrible cellphone reception in there. - [Voiceover] I imagine so, yeah. There were no cellphones at this time. All right, so you know what else made these tall buildings possible except for the steel structures? - [Voiceover] Was it elevators? - [Voiceover] It was totally elevators. - [Voiceover] Yes! - [Voiceover] Yes, see, you're better at this than you thought. - [Voiceover] Yeah! - [Voiceover] This is the time of the invention of the Otis elevator, and this is my little elevator entrance, that-- - [Voiceover] Nice! - [Voiceover] You could go to the top of a tall building without having to walk up 37 flights of stairs, which is pretty sweet for our efficiency, if not maybe our waistlines. - [Voiceover] Okay, so, but we've got this steel process which enable the construction of tons and tons of rail and tons and tons of buildings, of new buildings where you can put more industry and more people. And that enable cities to grow and wealth to grow. - [Voiceover] Yeah, exactly. So, there are more and more people flooding into cities. By 1870, there are more people working for other people for wages living in cities than people who work for themselves, which is a new era in the American economic system. There's some other really important business technologies that grow up in this time period as well. So, there's the telephone, which makes it possible to do business transactions on the spot. It revolutionized the speed of business very much the same way that the internet is gonna revolutionize the speed of business in the 1990s. You also have refrigeration, which you would not think would be that big of a deal, but think about how it allows you to move foodstuffs all over the country to new markets. You were just talking about Chicago, right? So, the only way that cattle could be driven into Chicago, slaughtered, and then have meat sent to all the other markets in the United States was through refrigerated train cars. And they have similar things for steamships that allow people to, for example, bring oranges from Florida to New York. So, it's this web of markets that are connecting the United States, and this is my terrible drawing of the United States, but rail and then ships make it possible for all of these markets to connect together over time and over space. - [Voiceover] That's super cool. - [Voiceover] You know, the railroad was even so important in this time period that, in a way, it invented the modern system of time. Because before the railroad, localities would just decide when noon was based on when the sun was highest in the sky, which meant that-- - [Voiceover] It didn't matter whether or not it was the same time in Kansas City as in St. Louis. But once you have a train connecting 'em, the St. Louis train gets in at 12:05, if you're off, you'll miss your train. - [Voiceover] Or that might lead to a collision of trains if they don't know when the other train is going to be coming through. - [Voiceover] Yeah, okay. So, inventions of the Gilded Age: intranational train travel, the telephone, refrigeration for meat, the Bessemer process for steel, and the standardization of time. - [Voiceover] All of those things. And I would say the last thing that might be really important here is also electrification. - [Voiceover] Oooh! - [Voiceover] Yeah, and like steel, electricity was not invented in the Gilded Age, but what happened was the spread of the light bulb in both homes and businesses, which meant that you could work longer hours. You didn't sleep as long. Actually, the amount of sleep that people got per night switched from about nine hours before electrification to about seven hours after. So, Thomas Edison is literally responsible for robbing us of sleep. But it also made it possible for workers to work longer hours and it significantly reduced the risk of fire in businesses, which meant you could invest in them with more confidence. - [Voiceover] Oh, because they didn't have gas lamps that could burst into flame. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] Awesome, well that's super cool. So, hooray Gilded Age, right? - [Voiceover] Right. And I think one thing that's important to understand about these technologies is that one of the goals of these technologies was to make it possible to produce things faster, but also to produce them with less-skilled workers, because a skilled worker, someone who knows a craft and can produce a finished item from start to finish, that takes a long time and it costs a lot of money. This is the difference between buying a suit off the rack and having a bespoke suit. If you wanna pay someone for that time and talent, you're gonna pay a lot. But if you can make something on a machine, then you can make a lot of them very quickly and you don't need someone who is an expert tailor. You just need someone who can operate a sewing machine to do a couple of seams. So, what they're trying to do here with this innovation is spread consumer goods, spread a higher standard of living. But they're also doing that at the price of having less-skilled workers making much smaller wages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Second Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age (video) | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Voiceover] So, we were talking about the wealth inequality that characterized the Gilded Age, but you were telling me that that's not the only thing, Kim, that characterizes this period. - [Voiceover] Right, what really makes the Gilded Age happen is what we call the Second Industrial Revolution.

# data[].attributes.body
Harriet was an American Abolitionist. Harriet escaped from slavery. She was a conductor for the underground railroad.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Harriet Tubman: Rescued Over 300 Slaves through Underground Railroad | Biography

# data[].attributes.headline
Reconstruction - Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

# data[].attributes.subject
Reconstruction - Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

# data[].attributes.body
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Plessy v. Ferguson Summary | quimbee.com

# data[].attributes.headline
Great Depression – New Deal: National Labor Relations Board

# data[].attributes.subject
Great Depression – New Deal: National Labor Relations Board

# data[].attributes.body
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency enforcing the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which protects the rights of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The NLRB is an independent federal agency enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which guarantees the right of most private sector employees to organize, to engage in group efforts to improve their wages and working conditions, to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative, to engage in collective bargaining, and to refrain from any of these activities. It acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.

Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") in 1935 to protect the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the U.S. economy.

The National Labor Relations Board has 26 regional offices and is headquartered in Washington, DC. Regional offices investigate and prosecute alleged violations of the Act under the authority of the General Counsel.

The Board has five Members and primarily acts as a quasi-judicial body in deciding cases on the basis of formal records in administrative proceedings. Board Members are appointed by the President to 5-year terms, with Senate consent, the term of one Member expiring each year.

The General Counsel, appointed by the President to a 4-year term, is independent from the Board and is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of unfair labor practice cases and for the general supervision of the NLRB field offices in the processing of cases.

The Division of Judges dockets, hears, settles, and decides unfair labor practice cases throughout the country.

View the organizational structure of the NLRB
For Additional Information:
If you have additional questions:

If you are ready to file a Charge or Petition, you may do so via the NLRB's electronic filing (E-File) application.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The NLRB is an independent federal agency enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which guarantees the right of most private sector employees to organize, to engage in group efforts to improve their wages and working conditions, to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative, to engage in collective bargaining, and to refrain from any of these activities.

# data[].attributes.headline
Great Depression – New Deal: Social Security

# data[].attributes.subject
Great Depression – New Deal: Social Security

# data[].attributes.body
The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. In addition to several provisions for general welfare, the new Act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement.

# data[].attributes.headline
Great Depression – New Deal: Works Progress Administration

# data[].attributes.subject
Great Depression – New Deal: Works Progress Administration

# data[].attributes.body
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an ambitious employment and infrastructure program created by President Roosevelt in 1935, during the bleakest years of the Great Depression. Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million Americans to work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Works Progress Administration: WPA & New Deal - HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Works Progress Administration or WPA was a New Deal employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

# data[].attributes.body
Faced with the Great Depression and World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt, nicknamed “FDR,” guided America through its greatest domestic crisis, with the exception of the Civil War, and its greatest foreign crisis. His presidency—which spanned twelve years—was unparalleled, not only in length but in scope.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Faced with the Great Depression and World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt, nicknamed "FDR," guided America through its greatest domestic crisis, with the exception of the Civil War, and its greatest foreign crisis. His presidency-which spanned twelve years-was unparalleled, not only in length but in scope. FDR took office with the country mired in a horrible and debilitating economic depression that not only sapped its material wealth and spiritual strength, but cast a pall over its future. Roosevelt's combination of confidence, optimism, and political savvy-all of which came together in the experimental economic and social programs of the "New Deal"-helped bring about the beginnings of a national recovery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Faced with the Great Depression and World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt, nicknamed "FDR," guided America through its greatest domestic crisis, with the exception of the Civil War, and its greatest foreign crisis. His presidency-which spanned twelve years-was unparalleled, not only in length but in scope.

# data[].attributes.body
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest.

# data[].attributes.body
During the 1930s, the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward isolationism. Isolationists advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
NOTE TO READERS
"Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations" has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice.

During the 1930s, the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward isolationism. Isolationists advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics. Although the United States took measures to avoid political and military conflicts across the oceans, it continued to expand economically and protect its interests in Latin America. The leaders of the isolationist movement drew upon history to bolster their position. In his Farewell Address, President George Washington had advocated non-involvement in European wars and politics. For much of the nineteenth century, the expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had made it possible for the United States to enjoy a kind of "free security" and remain largely detached from Old World conflicts. During World War I, however, President Woodrow Wilson made a case for U.S. intervention in the conflict and a U.S. interest in maintaining a peaceful world order. Nevertheless, the American experience in that war served to bolster the arguments of isolationists; they argued that marginal U.S. interests in that conflict did not justify the number of U.S. casualties.

In the wake of the World War I, a report by Senator Gerald P. Nye, a Republican from North Dakota, fed this belief by claiming that American bankers and arms manufacturers had pushed for U.S. involvement for their own profit. The 1934 publication of the book Merchants of Death by H.C. Engelbrecht and F. C. Hanighen, followed by the 1935 tract "War Is a Racket" by decorated Marine Corps General Smedley D. Butler both served to increase popular suspicions of wartime profiteering and influence public opinion in the direction of neutrality. Many Americans became determined not to be tricked by banks and industries into making such great sacrifices again. The reality of a worldwide economic depression and the need for increased attention to domestic problems only served to bolster the idea that the United States should isolate itself from troubling events in Europe. During the interwar period, the U.S. Government repeatedly chose non-entanglement over participation or intervention as the appropriate response to international questions. Immediately following the First World War, Congress rejected U.S. membership in the League of Nations. Some members of Congress opposed membership in the League out of concern that it would draw the United States into European conflicts, although ultimately the collective security clause sank the possibility of U.S. participation. During the 1930s, the League proved ineffectual in the face of growing militarism, partly due to the U.S. decision not to participate.

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria and subsequent push to gain control over larger expanses of Northeast China in 1931 led President Herbert Hoover and his Secretary of State, Henry Stimson, to establish the Stimson Doctrine, which stated that the United States would not recognize the territory gained by aggression and in violation of international agreements. With the Stimson Doctrine, the United States expressed concern over the aggressive action without committing itself to any direct involvement or intervention. Other conflicts, including the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War, also resulted in virtually no official commitment or action from the United States Government. Upon taking office, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tended to see a necessity for the United States to participate more actively in international affairs, but his ability to apply his personal outlook to foreign policy was limited by the strength of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. Congress. In 1933, President Roosevelt proposed a Congressional measure that would have granted him the right to consult with other nations to place pressure on aggressors in international conflicts. The bill ran into strong opposition from the leading isolationists in Congress, including progressive politicians such as Senators Hiram Johnson of California, William Borah of Idaho, and Robert La Follette of Wisconsin. In 1935, controversy over U.S. participation in the World Court elicited similar opposition. As tensions rose in Europe over Nazi Germany's aggressive maneuvers, Congress pushed through a series of Neutrality Acts, which served to prevent American ships and citizens from becoming entangled in outside conflicts. Roosevelt lamented the restrictive nature of the acts, but because he still required Congressional support for his domestic New Deal policies, he reluctantly acquiesced.

The isolationists were a diverse group, including progressives and conservatives, business owners and peace activists, but because they faced no consistent, organized opposition from internationalists, their ideology triumphed time and again. Roosevelt appeared to accept the strength of the isolationist elements in Congress until 1937. In that year, as the situation in Europe continued to grow worse and the Second Sino-Japanese War began in Asia, the President gave a speech in which he likened international aggression to a disease that other nations must work to "quarantine." At that time, however, Americans were still not prepared to risk their lives and livelihoods for peace abroad. Even the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 did not suddenly diffuse popular desire to avoid international entanglements. Instead, public opinion shifted from favoring complete neutrality to supporting limited U.S. aid to the Allies short of actual intervention in the war. The surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 served to convince the majority of Americans that the United States should enter the war on the side of the Allies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian

# data[].attributes.body
The United States declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917, nearly three years after World War I started. Before entering the war, the U.S. had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to the United Kingdom, France, and the other powers of the Allies of World War I.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
United States enters World War I (video) | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

# data[].attributes.body
The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804, when President Thomas Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis, who chose William Clark as his co-leader, with exploring lands west of the Mississippi River that comprised the Louisiana Purchase for over two years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Lewis and Clark: Expedition, Purpose & Facts - HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804 when Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

# data[].attributes.body
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Table of Contents

1. France in the New World

2. Louisiana Territory Changes Hands

3. Louisiana Purchase Negotiations

4. Legacy of the Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. What was known at the time as the Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the land deal, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson's presidency.

France in the New World

Beginning in the 17th century, France explored the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in the region.

By the middle of the 18th century, France controlled more of the present-day United States than any other European power: from New Orleans northeast to the Great Lakes and northwest to modern-day Montana.

In 1762, during the French and Indian War, France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to Great Britain. Spain, no longer a dominant European power, did little to develop Louisiana during the next three decades.

Louisiana Territory Changes Hands

In 1796, Spain allied itself with France, leading Britain to use its powerful navy to cut off Spain from America. And in 1801, Spain signed a secret treaty with France to return the Louisiana Territory to France.

Reports of the retrocession caused considerable unease in the United States. Since the late 1780s, Americans had been moving westward into the Ohio River and Tennessee River valleys, and these settlers were highly dependent on free access to the Mississippi River and the strategic port of New Orleans.

U.S. officials feared that France, resurgent under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, would soon seek to dominate the Mississippi River and access to the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to U.S. minister to France Robert Livingston, President Thomas Jefferson stated, "The day that France takes possession of New Orleans...we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation."

Livingston was ordered to negotiate with French Finance Minister Barbé-Marbois for the purchase of New Orleans.

Louisiana Purchase Negotiations

France was slow in taking control of Louisiana, but in 1802 Spanish authorities, apparently acting under French orders, revoked a U.S.-Spanish treaty that granted Americans the right to store goods in New Orleans.

In response, Jefferson sent future U.S. president James Monroe to Paris to aid Livingston in the New Orleans purchase talks. In mid-April 1803, shortly before Monroe's arrival, the French asked a surprised Livingston if the United States was interested in purchasing all of Louisiana Territory.

It's believed that the failure of France to put down a slave revolution in Haiti, the impending war with Great Britain and probable British naval blockade of France - combined with French economic difficulties - may have prompted Napoleon to offer Louisiana for sale to the United States.

Negotiations moved swiftly, and at the end of April the U.S. envoys agreed to pay $11,250,000 and assume claims of American citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000. In exchange, the United States acquired the vast domain of Louisiana Territory, some 828,000 square miles of land.

The treaty was dated April 30 and signed on May 2. In October, the U.S. Senate ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France transferred authority over the region to the United States.

Legacy of the Louisiana Purchase

The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was among Jefferson's most notable achievements as president. American expansion westward into the new lands began immediately, and in 1804 a territorial government was established.

Jefferson soon commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, to explore the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

On April 30, 1812, exactly nine years after the Louisiana Purchase agreement was made, the first state to be carved from the territory - Louisiana - was admitted into the Union as the 18th U.S. state.
Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault. Start your free trial today.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Louisiana Purchase - Definition, Facts & Importance | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 introduced about 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France into the United States, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. Explore the facts about this important acquisition and its lasting legacy on Thomas Jefferson's presidency.

# data[].attributes.body
Sources that are truthful and provide thorough, well-reasoned theory, argument, discussion, etc. based on strong evidence.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Featured snippet from the web

All first determine the author or publishing. Organization it's important that the author is an More All first determine the author or publishing. Organization it's important that the author is an expert on the topic. Try to learn more about the author's. Education. And experience in the field.

People also ask

Videos

Ask students which of the examples – A or B – seems too good to be true. Tell them to beware of this type of writing as it can indicate unreliability and ...

People also search for

It's important to teach students that one source does not necessarily verify information. They should be cross-referencing everything. One way to do this is to ...

People also search for

Use these strategies to help middle and high school students identify relevance, accuracy, bias, and reliability in the content they read.

People also search for

Sep 7, 2015 — As your child gets older, spend some time reviewing the sources they are citing in their homework. Ask them questions about the sources, ask ...

People also search for

Mar 11, 2021 — Fun Strategies for Teaching Students How To Determine Credible Sources · Check the Basics · Ask the Right Questions · Website Attributes · Explore ...

People also search for

Results 1 - 24 of 146 — Students are given a choice of topics to research about the play. They must compile information by evaluating the validity of different ...

People also search for

Jul 15, 2019 — As your child gets older, spend some time reviewing the sources they are citing in their homework and reports. Ask them questions about the ...

People also search for

May 12, 2021 — 5 Tips for Helping Students of All Ages Find Credible Online Sources · 1. Start with basic keyword searches. Today's youngest students have been ...

People also search for

This lesson, part of the Digital Literacy series, focuses on teaching students to identify how writers can reveal their biases through their word choice and ...

People also search for

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
how to teach kids the validity of a source - Google Search

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All first determine the author or publishing. Organization it’s important that the author is anMoreAll first determine the author or publishing. Organization it’s important that the author is an expert on the topic. Try to learn more about the author’s. Education. And experience in the field.

# data[].attributes.body
Definition

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
the science that deals with measuring time by regular divisions and that assigns to events their proper dates; a chronological table, list, or account; an arrangement (as of events) in order of occurrence... See the full definition

# data[].attributes.body
3 distinct groupings: New England, Middle Colonies, Southern Colonies. Mainly wanted to practice their own religion and keep families intact. Colonies were put together based on industry or work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
English Colonial Expansion

Sixteenth-century England was a tumultuous place. Because they could make more money from selling wool than from selling food, many of the nation's landowners were converting farmers' fields into pastures for sheep. This led to a food shortage; at the same time, many agricultural workers lost their jobs.

Did you know? Virginia Dare, the first American-born child of English parents, was born in Roanoke in 1587.

The 16th century was also the age of mercantilism, an extremely competitive economic philosophy that pushed European nations to acquire as many colonies as they could. As a result, for the most part, the English colonies in North America were business ventures. They provided an outlet for England's surplus population and (in some cases) more religious freedom than England did, but their primary purpose was to make money for their sponsors.

The Tobacco Colonies

In 1606, King James I divided the Atlantic seaboard in two, giving the southern half to the London Company (later the Virginia Company) and the northern half to the Plymouth Company.

The first English settlement in North America had actually been established some 20 years before, in 1587, when a group of colonists (91 men, 17 women and nine children) led by Sir Walter Raleigh settled on the island of Roanoke. Mysteriously, by 1590 the Roanoke colony had vanished entirely. Historians still do not know what became of its inhabitants.

In 1606, just a few months after James I issued its charter, the London Company sent 144 men to Virginia on three ships: the Godspeed, the Discovery and the Susan Constant. They reached the Chesapeake Bay in the spring of 1607 and headed about 60 miles up the James River, where they built a settlement they called Jamestown.

The Jamestown colonists had a rough time of it: They were so busy looking for gold and other exportable resources that they could barely feed themselves. It was not until 1616, when Virginia's settlers learned how to grow tobacco, that it seemed the colony might survive. The first enslaved African arrived in Virginia in 1619.

In 1632, the English crown granted about 12 million acres of land at the top of the Chesapeake Bay to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore. This colony, named Maryland after the queen, was similar to Virginia in many ways. Its landowners produced tobacco on large plantations that depended on the labor of indentured servants and (later) enslaved workers.

But unlike Virginia's founders, Lord Baltimore was a Catholic, and he hoped that his colony would be a refuge for his persecuted coreligionists. Maryland became known for its policy of religious toleration for all.

The New England Colonies

The first English emigrants to what would become the New England colonies were a small group of Puritan separatists, later called the Pilgrims, who arrived in Plymouth in 1620 to found Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, a wealthy syndicate known as the Massachusetts Bay Company sent a much larger (and more liberal) group of Puritans to establish another Massachusetts settlement. With the help of local natives, the colonists soon got the hang of farming, fishing and hunting, and Massachusetts prospered.

As the Massachusetts settlements expanded, they formed new colonies in New England. Puritans who thought that Massachusetts was not pious enough formed the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven (the two combined in 1665). Meanwhile, Puritans who thought that Massachusetts was too restrictive formed the colony of Rhode Island, where everyone-including Jewish people-enjoyed complete "liberty in religious concernments." To the north of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a handful of adventurous settlers formed the colony of New Hampshire.

The Middle Colonies

In 1664, King Charles II gave the territory between New England and Virginia, much of which was already occupied by Dutch traders and landowners called patroons, to his brother James, the Duke of York. The English soon absorbed Dutch New Netherland and renamed it New York.

Most of the Dutch people (as well as the Belgian Flemings and Walloons, French Huguenots, Scandinavians and Germans) who were living there stayed put. This made New York one of the most diverse and prosperous colonies in the New World.

In 1680, the king granted 45,000 square miles of land west of the Delaware River to William Penn, a Quaker who owned large swaths of land in Ireland. Penn's North American holdings became the colony of "Penn's Woods," or Pennsylvania.

Lured by the fertile soil and the religious toleration that Penn promised, people migrated there from all over Europe. Like their Puritan counterparts in New England, most of these emigrants paid their own way to the colonies and had enough money to establish themselves when they arrived. As a result, Pennsylvania soon became a prosperous and relatively egalitarian place.

The Southern Colonies

By contrast, the Carolina colony, a territory that stretched south from Virginia to Florida and west to the Pacific Ocean, was much less cosmopolitan. In its northern half, hardscrabble farmers eked out a living. In its southern half, planters presided over vast estates that produced corn, lumber, beef and pork, and-starting in the 1690s-rice.

These Carolinians had close ties to the English planter colony on the Caribbean island of Barbados, which relied heavily on African slave labor, and many were involved in the slave trade themselves. As a result, slavery played an important role in the development of the Carolina colony. (It split into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1729.)

In 1732, inspired by the need to build a buffer between South Carolina and the Spanish settlements in Florida, the Englishman James Oglethorpe established the Georgia colony. In many ways, Georgia's development mirrored South Carolina's.

The Revolutionary War and the Treaty of Paris

In 1700, there were about 250,000 European settlers and enslaved Africans in North America's English colonies. By 1775, on the eve of revolution, there were an estimated 2.5 million. The colonists did not have much in common, but they were able to band together and fight for their independence.

The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) was sparked after American colonists chafed over issues like taxation without representation, embodied by laws like The Stamp Act and The Townshend Acts. Mounting tensions came to a head during the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, when the "shot heard round the world" was fired.

It was not without warning; the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770 and the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 showed the colonists' increasing dissatisfaction with British rule in the colonies.

The Declaration of Independence, issued on July 4, 1776, enumerated the reasons the Founding Fathers felt compelled to break from the rule of King George III and parliament to start a new nation. In September of that year, the Continental Congress declared the "United Colonies" of America to be the "United States of America."

France joined the war on the side of the colonists in 1778, helping the Continental Army conquer the British at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. The Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution and granting the 13 original colonies independence was signed on September 3, 1783.

13 Colonies Flag

During the Revolutionary War, a flag featuring thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen five-pointed stars arranged in a circle was adopted. This variant is also known as the " Betsy Ross Flag," as she was believed to have designed it. The stars and stripes represent the 13 colonies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 13 Colonies: Map, Original States & Facts | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 13 Colonies were a group of colonies of Great Britain that settled on the Atlantic coast of America in the 17th and 18th centuries. The colonies declared independence in 1776 to found the United States of America.

# data[].attributes.body
Life before European exploration was dependent on land area, agriculture, and irrigation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Native American societies before contact (video) | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

# data[].attributes.body
Good engineering for architecture, extensive roads, sanitation systems, monuments. Military was strong. Art was robust: painting, statues, pottery, glass

# data[].attributes.body
Panhellenic Games: Olympic Games. Good at sailing, good trade!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ancient Greece - 5 Things you Should Know - History for Kids

# data[].attributes.body
The Nile River! Written records. Architecture: pyramids, farming, build ships.

# data[].attributes.body
Small farming communities with dynasties. Writing! Iron refinement. Invented: paper, printing, gunpowder and the compass.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ancient China | Early Civilizations | World History | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.body
The action signed by Congress which forced Native Americans to re-locate and then follow the deadly Trail of Tears.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On May 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, beginning the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans in what became known as the Trail of Tears.

Subjects

Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, U.S. History

On March 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, beginning the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans in what became known as the Trail of Tears. Not all members of Congress supported the Indian Removal Act. Tennessee Rep. Davey Crockett was a vocal opponent, for instance. Native Americans opposed removal from their ancestral lands, resulting in a long series of battles with local white settlers. But the forced relocation proved popular with voters. It freed more than 25 million acres of fertile, lucrative farmland to mostly white settlement in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. More than 46,000 Native Americans were forced-sometimes by the U.S. military-to abandon their homes and relocate to "Indian Territory" that eventually became the state of Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died on the journey-of disease, starvation, and exposure to extreme weather. Today, the Trail of Tears is a National Historic Trail stretching from Tennessee to Oklahoma. It specifically chronicles the removal of the Cherokee in 1838-1839, the largest contingent on the Trail of Tears.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Writer

National Geographic Society

Producer

National Geographic Society

other

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. She or he will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On May 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, beginning the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans in what became known as the Trail of Tears. Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, U.S. History On March 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, beginning the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans in what became known as the Trail of Tears.

# data[].attributes.body
5,043 miles long! A trail Native American’s were forced to endure as southern land owners pushed them out of the area. Native American’s were considered “nuisances” to farmers who wanted to develop the land for cotton crops.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 'Indian Problem'

White Americans, particularly those who lived on the western frontier, often feared and resented the Native Americans they encountered: To them, American Indians seemed to be an unfamiliar, alien people who occupied land that white settlers wanted (and believed they deserved).

Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington, believed that the best way to solve this "Indian problem" was to simply "civilize" the Native Americans. The goal of this civilization campaign was to make Native Americans as much like white Americans as possible by encouraging them convert to Christianity, learn to speak and read English and adopt European-style economic practices such as the individual ownership of land and other property (including, in some instances in the South, enslaved persons).

In the southeastern United States, many Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cherokee people embraced these customs and became known as the "Five Civilized Tribes."

Did you know? Indian removal took place in the Northern states as well. In Illinois and Wisconsin, for example, the bloody Black Hawk War in 1832 opened to white settlement millions of acres of land that had belonged to the Sauk, Fox and other native nations.

But the Native Americans' land, located in parts of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, was valuable, and it grew to be more coveted as white settlers flooded the region. Many of these whites yearned to make their fortunes by growing cotton, and often resorted to violent means to take land from their Indigenous neighbors. They stole livestock; burned and looted houses and towns; committed mass murder; and squatted on land that did not belong to them.

Worcester v. Georgia

State governments joined in this effort to drive Native Americans out of the South. Several states passed laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their territory.

In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court objected to these practices and affirmed that native nations were sovereign nations "in which the laws of Georgia [and other states] can have no force."

Even so, the maltreatment continued. As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court's rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would "[fall]...still born." Southern states were determined to take ownership of Indian lands and would go to great lengths to secure this territory.

Indian Removal Act

Andrew Jackson had long been an advocate of what he called "Indian removal." As an Army general, he had spent years leading brutal campaigns against the Creeks in Georgia and Alabama and the Seminoles in Florida-campaigns that resulted in the transfer of hundreds of thousands of acres of land from Indian nations to white farmers.

As president, he continued this crusade. In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the federal government the power to exchange Native-held land in the cotton kingdom east of the Mississippi for land to the west, in the "Indian colonization zone" that the United States had acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase. This "Indian territory" was located in present-day Oklahoma.

The law required the government to negotiate removal treaties fairly, voluntarily and peacefully: It did not permit the president or anyone else to coerce Native nations into giving up their ancestral lands. However, President Jackson and his government frequently ignored the letter of the law and forced Native Americans to vacate lands they had lived on for generations.

Trail of Tears

In the winter of 1831, under threat of invasion by the U.S. Army, the Choctaw became the first nation to be expelled from its land altogether. They made the journey to Indian Territory on foot (some "bound in chains and marched double file," one historian writes), and without any food, supplies or other help from the government.

Thousands of people died along the way. It was, one Choctaw leader told an Alabama newspaper, a "trail of tears and death."

The Indian-removal process continued. In 1836, the federal government drove the Creeks from their land for the last time: 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks who set out for Oklahoma did not survive the trip.

Treaty of New Echota

The Cherokee people were divided: What was the best way to handle the government's determination to get its hands on their territory? Some wanted to stay and fight. Others thought it was more pragmatic to agree to leave in exchange for money and other concessions.

In 1835, a few self-appointed representatives of the Cherokee nation negotiated the Treaty of New Echota, which traded all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi - roughly 7 million acres - for $5 million, relocation assistance and compensation for lost property.

To the federal government, the treaty (signed in New Echota, Georgia) was a done deal, but a majority of the Cherokee felt betrayed. Importantly, the negotiators did not represent the tribal government or anyone else. Most Cherokee people considered the Treaty of New Echota fraudulent, and the Cherokee National Council voted in 1836 to reject it.

John Ross

"The instrument in question is not the act of our nation," wrote the nation's principal chief, John Ross, in a letter to the U.S. Senate protesting the Treaty of New Echota. "We are not parties to its covenants; it has not received the sanction of our people." Nearly 16,000 Cherokees signed Ross's petition, but Congress approved the treaty anyway.

By 1838, only about 2,000 Cherokees had left their Georgia homeland for Indian Territory. President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process. Scott and his troops forced the Cherokee into stockades at bayonet point while his men looted their homes and belongings.

Then, they marched the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian Territory. Whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera and starvation were epidemic along the way. Historians estimate that more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a result of the journey.

Legacy of the Trail of Tears

By 1840, tens of thousands of Native Americans had been driven off of their land in the southeastern states and forced to move across the Mississippi to Indian Territory. The federal government promised that their new land would remain unmolested forever, but as the line of white settlement pushed westward, "Indian Country" shrank and shrank. In 1907, Oklahoma became a state and Indian Territory was considered lost.

A 2020 decision by the Supreme Court, however, highlighted ongoing interest in Native American territorial rights. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that a huge area of Oklahoma is still considered an American Indian reservation.

This decision left the state of Oklahoma unable to prosecute Native Americans accused of crimes on those tribal lands - only federal and tribal law enforcement can prosecute such crimes. (A later 2022 Supreme Court decision rolled back some provisions of the 2020 court finding.)

The Trail of Tears - actually a network of different routes - is over 5,000 miles long and covers nine states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Today, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail is run by the National Park Service and portions of it are accessible on foot, by horse, by bicycle or by car.

Sources

Trail of Tears. NPS.gov.
Trail of Tears. Museum of the Cherokee Indian.
The Treaty of New Echota and the Trail of Tears. North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The Treaty That Forced the Cherokee People from Their Homelands Goes on View. Smithsonian Magazine.
Justices rule swath of Oklahoma remains tribal reservation. Associated Press.
Justices limit 2020 ruling on tribal lands in Oklahoma. Associated Press.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Trail of Tears: Definition, Date & Cherokee Nation - HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Trail of Tears was the deadly route Native Americans were forced to follow when they were pushed off their ancestral lands and into Oklahoma by the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

# data[].attributes.body
Political parties came into being around 1787 when the constitution was being ratified. The tension between them was in relation to how much power the felt the federal government should have. The first two political parties were The Federalists and The Anti-Federalists Party also known as the The Democratic-Republicans.

# data[].attributes.body
The Bill of Rights are the frist ten amendments to the constitution. They describe the American people's rights in relation to their government. They also list out the civil rights and freedoms of each American including the freedom of speech, press, and religion.

# data[].attributes.body
The American Constitution created the federal government and listed its' functions. It also created the laws of the land.

# data[].attributes.headline
Major Ideas of the Articles of Confederation 

# data[].attributes.subject
Major Ideas of the Articles of Confederation 

# data[].attributes.body
The Articles of Confederation was the first governing document, the original constitution, and were agreed on by all thirteen states. The major ideas of the Articles of Confederation included naming the new country THE United States of America. State governments still retained their powers that were not included in these Articles. Lastly, the new independent states were bound to protect one another if they were attacked.

# data[].attributes.headline
Main Ideas of the Declaration of Independence

# data[].attributes.subject
Main Ideas of the Declaration of Independence

# data[].attributes.body
The Declaration of Independence contained two main parts. First, it stated that the United States of America was its own country, independent from England's rule. Second, it listed the complaints the colonists had against King George.

# data[].attributes.body
Benjamin Franklin was one of the author's of the declaration and one of the signing Founding Fathers. During the Revolutionary War he served as the colonists representative to France.

# data[].attributes.body
Thomas Jefferson is credited as being the main author of the Declaration of Independence. He later served as vice president and president.

# data[].attributes.body
George Washington was the commander and chief of the continental army during the Revolutionary War. He also was the first U.S. President serving two terms.

# data[].attributes.body
John Adams was a memeber of the contiengtial congress and was the diplomat that helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris, thus ending the Revolutionary War. He also served as the frist vice president.

# data[].attributes.body
King George was the king of England during the time of the American colonies. He sought to exert more and more power over them resulting in the Revolutionary War and the subsequent loss of the colonies.

# data[].attributes.body
The main causes of the revolutionary war were the colonists opposed England having even more power over them and England was trying to make the colonists pay them back for the protection they provided during the French and Indian War.