This article is part of the

 Colonial America

 History of the United States (1776-1861)

 The Coming of the Civil War

 The Civil War

 History of the United States (1865-1918)

 History of the United States (1918-1945)

 History of the United States (1945-1964)

History of the United States (1964-1980)

 History of the United States (1980-1988)

 History of the United States (1988-present)

 Military history of the United States

Era Overview

The United States of America was founded in 1776 from British colonies along the Atlantic Coast of North America. In 1775, frustration with various British crown practices had led to revolt by colonists in Massachusetts. The next year, representatives of thirteen of the British colonies in North America met in Philadelphia and declared their independence in a remarkable document, the Declaration of Independence, primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson. With the help of their French allies they were eventually able to win the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain, settled by the Treaty of Paris. Until 1789, the United States was governed by the Articles of Confederation.

The first country to recognize the United States after declaring its independence was the city state of Dubrovnik(at that time also called Ragusa).

In 1789, the Constitution of the United States was adopted, and George Washington was elected the first President of the United States. Congress passed the first of many laws organizing the government. Despite a desire on the part of Washington to remain isolationist, as detailed in his farewell address, the United States would grow to have a rich diplomatic history.

In 1812, the United states entered a second war with the British Empire, known as the War of 1812. It was caused in large part by the British policy of impressment (the forcible seizure of American seamen for service in the British Royal Navy) and the British blockade of French seaports where Americans wanted to trade.

During the 19th century the country expanded its territory greatly through two major acquisitions; the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the Mexican Cession of 1848, a consequence of the Mexican-American War. Meanwhile, the Oregon territory was purchased from Great Britain, Alaska from Russia, and the kingdom of Hawaii was annexed at the end of the century, completing the present territory of the United States.

Westward expansion (known as Manifest Destiny) by official acts of the United States Government was accompanied by the western (and northern in the case of New England) movement of settlers into the trans-Appalachia region and beyond the frontier.

Major events in the western movement of the American people were the Homestead Act, a law by which, for a nominal price, a settler was given title to land to farm; the opening of the Northwest Territory to settlement; the Texas Revolution; the opening of the Oregon Trail; the Mormon Emigration to Utah in 1846-7; the California gold rush of 1849; the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859; and the completion of the US Transcontinental Railroad on May 10th, 1869.

In response to the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860, most of the Southern states seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America. The American Civil War ensued. U. S. military leadership was mediocre at first, compared to that of Confederate generals, particularly Robert E. Lee. But the Union government managed to invade the Southern states, and defeat the Confederate army, by means of an overwhelming advantage in materials and number of soldiers, and the gradual appearance of skilled generals like Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman.

The destructiveness of the Union invasion and defeat of the South, followed by exploitive economic policies in the defeated region after the war, caused lasting bitterness among white Southerners toward the U.S. government. This failure of the Federal government to effectively reunite the country contributed to the government's failure for many decades to enforce the Civil Rights of the formerly enslaved African-Americans in the South.

Independence

The United States of America was founded in 1776 from British colonies along the Atlantic Coast of North America. In 1775, frustration with various British crown practices had led to revolt by colonists in Massachusetts. The next year, representatives of thirteen of the British colonies in North America met in Philadelphia and declared their independence in a remarkable document, the Declaration of Independence, primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson. With the help of their French allies they were eventually able to win the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain, settled by the Treaty of Paris (1783).

The Articles of Confederation

Until 1789, the United States was governed by the Articles of Confederation. The Articles created an extremely weak central government. The United States had no power to levy taxes; for income, it relied on "requisitions," essentially requests of money from the states. In addition, the government of the United States had no central executive branch, making its already weak government further divided and lacking strong leadership. The government of the United States under the Articles was also weak with regards to foreign affairs, and during this period Britain and Spain treated the United States as a third-rate power.

The struggle for constitution

Federalists and Antifederalists

Opponents of the plan for stronger government took the name Antifederalists. They feared that a government with the power to tax would soon become as despotic and corrupt as Great Britain had been only decades earlier. The most notable Antifederalists were Patrick Henry and George Mason. They were also quite concerned with the absence of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

Interestingly enough, Thomas Jefferson, who was serving as Ambassador to France at the time, was neither a Federalist nor an Antifederalist, but decided to remain neutral and accept either outcome. However, in letters from France he did express his reservations about the finished document to his friend and eventual ally, James Madison. The Federalists gained a great deal of prestige and advantage when George Washington joined their cause.

The Constitutional Convention

This Constitution was in many ways a direct response to the Articles of Confederation - it created for the first time a strong executive branch and gave the government the power to tax.

In order to forge such a strong central government, however, several compromises were forged among the states. The first was between big and small states (in terms of population). Virginia brought to the Convention the Virginia Plan, which featured a legislative body with each state receiving an amount of delegates based on population. The New Jersey Plan, in contrast, had each state receive the same number of delegates regardless of population. The "Great Compromise" that followed created a bicameral legislature - the modern day House of Representatives (amount of congressmen based on population) and Senate (2 senators per state).

In 1789 the Constitution of the United States was adopted.

The Republican Party

After the adoption of the Constitution, the Antifederalist party effectively ceased to exist, and many of its members accepted the new founding document. However, the ideals of states' rights and a smaller federal government, were in many ways absorbed by the growth of a new party, the Republican or Democratic-Republican Party.

Washington's presidency

George Washington was elected as the first President of the United States under the new Constitution. This was in many ways inevitable; Washington was a renowned hero of the American Revolutionary War who kept the Continental Army together, President of the Constitutional Convention, and perhaps the most well-loved figure ever in United States politics. He easily won the U.S. presidential election of 1789, running virtually unopposed. He received all of the electoral votes.

Under Washington's presidency, the first US Census was taken and the Supreme Court of the United States was established. However, the major policies and decisions of his terms involved two of his cabinet members - the Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton and the Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, whose different ideologies formed the Federalist and Republican parties, respectively. Although Washington warned against political parties in his farewell address, many felt that by the end of his term he was a Federalist, and indeed the Whiskey Rebellion seems to indicate this.

Despite a desire on the part of Washington to remain isolationist, as detailed in his farewell address, the United States would grow to have a rich diplomatic history.

Adams and Jefferson

• John Adams
  • Adams versus the High Federalists (Alexander Hamilton)
  • The Quasi-War
  • The XYZ Affair
  • The Alien and Sedition Acts
    • The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
• Thomas Jefferson
  • Aaron Burr and election of 1800
  • Strict constitutionalism
  • Reducing the size of the government
  • The Louisiana Purchase
    • The Louisiana Government Bill
    • The Louis and Clark Expedition

James Madison won the U.S. presidential election of 1808, largely on the strength of his abilities in foreign affairs at a time when England and France were both on the edge of war with the United States. Both countries were blockading the ports of the other, preventing American commerce with either. In the end, England's efforts to destroy American maritime commerce proved too much for legislators. In 1810, a bill was passed that would break off relations with any nation that would not remove the blockade: France conceded, while England did not.

War of 1812

In 1812, the United states entered a second war with the British Empire, known as the War of 1812. It was caused in large part by the British policy of Impressment (the forcible seizure of American seamen for service in the British Royal Navy) and the British blocking of French seaports where Americans desired to carry on trade.

The war was not a wonderful success; the British won victory after victory, including a temporary occupation of Washington, D.C., where Madison was driven out. The British also armed American Indians in the west, including the Shawnee under their leader Tecumseh. Neither side was terribly enthusiastic about the war, however: the British had nothing to gain, and in the United States, New England threatened secession if the war was not ended.

Certain factions in the United States supported the war due to the desire to add Canadian lands to the United States, but all invasions of Canada failed. The burning of Fort York, now Toronto, was one reason that Washington D.C. was burned in retaliation by the British. Though the British held the upper hand in most engagements, several of the battles entered the American mythos--including the Battle of New Orleans (1815), when General Andrew Jackson handed the British one of the worst defeats in their history. Ironically, the battle was fought two weeks after the peace Treaty of Ghent, which ended the hostilities, and restored pre-war conditions.

The major lasting effect for the political face of the country was the end of the Federalist Party, who were considered traitors when they opposed the war.

Dolley Madison

Madison's wife, Dolley, was one of the most famous First Ladies in U.S. history. During her husband's political life, Dolley Madison was noted as a gracious hostess, whose sassy, ebullient personality, love of feathered turbans, and passion for snuff seemed at odds with her Quaker upbringing. However, probably her most lasting achievements were her letters to James Madison during the period of the framing of the United States Constitution, and her rescue of valuable treasures, including state papers and a Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington, from the White House before it was burned by the British army in 1814.

Monroe administration

Following the War of 1812, James Monroe was elected president in 1816, and re-elected in 1820. Monroe, the last American Revolutionary War veteran to serve as president, was almost uncontested in his two elections.

Monroe's presidency was later labeled "The Era of Good Feeling", in part because partisan politics were almost nonexistent. The Federalist Party had died out, and the rift between the Democratic Party and the Whig Party had not yet happened. Practically every politician belonged to the Democratic-Republican Party.

Monroe is probably best known for the Monroe Doctrine, which he delivered in his message to Congress on December 2nd, 1823. In it, he proclaimed the Americas should be free from future European colonization and free from European interference in sovereign countries' affairs. It further stated the United States' intention to stay neutral in wars between European powers and their colonies, but to consider any new colonies or interference with independent countries in the Americas as hostile acts toward the United States.

Formation of the Democratic Party

Following his defeat in the election of 1824 (despite having a majority of the popular vote), Andrew Jackson set about building a political coalition strong enough to defeat John Quincy Adams in the election of 1828. The coalition that he built was the foundation of the United States Democratic Party.

Westward expansion

During the 19th century, the country expanded its territory greatly through two major acquisitions. In 1802, the size of the country doubled with the Louisiana Purchase, when France sold all of its territories west of the Mississippi River to the United States. The Lewis and Clark expedition quickly explored the north western territories from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The nation's territory continued to expand by the annexation of Texas, which led to the Mexican-American War, where the United States obtained territory in the southwest from Mexico. The Oregon territory was purchased from Great Britain, Alaska from Russia, and the kingdom of Hawaii was annexed at the end of the century, completing the present territory of the United States. In summary, the following contributed to the present-day territory of the United States:

• The Revolutionary War (Treaty of Paris), 1787 -- Britain gave up the original 13 colonies
• Louisiana Purchase, 1803 -- U.S. purchased all land drained by the Mississippi River
• The Adams-Onís Treaty (Transcontinental Treaty) -- Spain sold Florida to the US, U.S. dropped its claim to Texas, Spain dropped its claim to Oregon
• Rush-Bagot Agreement with Britain (1817) -- Disarmament of the Great Lakes
• Convention of 1818 with Britain -- extended the northern border of the U.S. to the crest of the Rocky Mountains along the 49th parallel
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo with Mexico (1848) -- Mexico sold California to the U.S.
• Oregon Treaty of 1846 -- Split Oregon along the 48th parallel
• Gadsden Purchase of 1853 -- U.S. purchased northern Mexico territory

Major events in the western movement of the American people were the Homestead Act, a law by which, for a nominal price, a settler was given title to land to farm; the opening of the Northwest Territory to settlement; the Texas Revolution; the opening of the Oregon Trail; the Mormon Emigration to Utah in 1846-7; The California gold rush of 1849; the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859; and the completion of the US Transcontinental Railroad on May 10th, 1869.

The western movie, one of the classic American film genres, is situated in this era.

The coming of the Civil War