From the title, “West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War” we are met with the deals of conceptive reconstruction during the time after the Civil War. A time in which the country formed ideals of citizenship and the role of the government. The title is devoted to the theme of Heather Cox Richardson’s illustration of Western influence on this period of reconstruction post-Civil War. This view of post-war reconstruction is formatted in a timeline to include many of the political debates of the late nineteenth century. She shows an effective examination of how the post-war reconstruction, has produced a modern day construction that sits behind concepts of individualism, the middle class, and governmental influence. …show more content…
She states, “How did nineteenth century Americans justify the expansion of government activism and still retain their wholehearted belief in individualism” (Cox Richardson, H. 2007, p. 4). Cox Richardson’s incudes the West in this reconstruction, claiming descriptive Western encouragement as a major influence on middle class description, and the distinct political boundaries that formed around the role the government should play in public …show more content…
A similar understanding from romanticized Western thought. Cox Richardson uses the West as a marker for this class distinction because of its association to individualism. A thought expanded with testimony from known American folk heroes such as Buffalo Bill, John Henry, Mark Twain, among others. The association between the middle class and the concept of individualism is a common occurrence within the book. “The West where individuals lived in a world unfettered by government or special interests, and where on could live as God had intended” (Cox Richardson, H. 2007, p. 120). the image of the West became embedded with the sought after individualistic and independent American in a turmoil post-war
A time of immense change and political involvement, the antebellum years of the early 1800s is one of the most intriguing time periods of America’s history. Harry L. Watson’s incredible book, Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America, details the ups and downs of politics during Jacksonian America. Watson does a great job on explaining how the eighteenth century concept of republicanism transformed nineteenth century America in the form of a ‘market revolution.’ Social, political and economic changes were the center of life during Jacksonian America. Watson’s synthesis is a must-read for anyone interested in Jacksonian politics.
During the 19th century, the American people were experiencing a revolution concerning both the economy and religion, in what is recognized today as the Market Revolution and the Second Great Awakening. A rapid increase in the population within the countryside, and the development of new technology outburst a change in the economy from one of local exchanges to one governed by capital and capitalists. Family owned businesses began to expand and sold their items not only among a small community, but now products were being shipped to different ports along the colonies. The industrialization movement was rapidly approaching that “Indian removal was necessary for the opening of the vast American lands to agriculture, to commerce, to markets, to
Faith Picotte History 310 (T-Th) Homework Ch. 8 1.Turner’s frontier thesis is deceptively draws and allure your inquisitive imagination into a grand scale visionary picture of settlements of specific regions, and the social societal processes. Americans realized the frontier formed and promoted a composite nationalist American society. The English dominated the coastal region. , later continental immigrants flowed towards the free lands of the frontier.
William Novak presents an argument on how the history of American government has been told upside-down for many years now. Novak depicts a mighty American state, capable of a great deal and responsible for some of the most important narratives in American history. However, there were many people, of whom had great interest in the founding fathers, were irritated by Novak’s argument. The main group of people being referred to here were people from the Tea Party political movement.
Countless citizens in the 1840s and 1850s, feeling a sense of mission, believed that Almighty God had “manifestly’’ destined the American people for a hemispheric career. They would spread their uplifting and ennobling democratic institutions over at least the entire continent. Land greed and ideals—“empire’’ and “liberty’’—were thus conveniently conjoined. 14. What political party cost Henry Clay the popular vote in the state of New York, & what is ironic about Polk’s election in 1844 regarding this party’s position on Texas?
The chapters of our textbook, America: A Narrative History, written by George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, takes us on a historical yet comparative journey of the road to war and what caused the American Revolution, an insight into the war itself, and a perception to what life was like in America after the war was over. The essays of the book, America Compared: American History in International Perspective, collected by Carl J. Guarneri gives us a global context and a comparison between the North and South Americas in the dividing issues of labor, slavery, taxes, politics, economy, liberty, and equality. Part One These chapters in our textbook Tindall describes; the road to the American Revolution, the road to the surrendering of the British, and the road to the American colonists receiving their independence and developing the government which the people of the United States will be governed by. The road to the American Revolution consisted of several events, which escalated to the war that began April 19, 1775, as the tensions between the American colonies and the British Government advanced towards breaking point.
The American Civil War and the Reconstruction periods played an important role in defining the nation’s political, social, and economic identity in the sense that the country’s survival and democratic principles were radically tested. As the country was becoming a hemispherical power, sectional tensions and dissenting attitudes of opposing groups make these periods comparable with the Revolutionary War in three major components: the issue of slavery and struggle for equality, the role of the federal government vs. states’ rights, and scuffles related with economic power. Prior to the Revolutionary War, there was an existing struggle between social classes as the southern states had an inflexible social structure, whereas in the northern states the Industrial Revolution was beginning to take place, causing a dramatic shift of labor force after the country gained its independence in 1783. With the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1791, southern landowners took advantage of the slave force to increase their profits radically, and this reliance on slaves for the
Reconstruction was a period of time dedicated to rebuilding the nation after the Civil War. The war ended with the South being defeated and their economy being devastated. Many Southerners struggled after the war with rebuilding their land and lives. The President and Congress had to decide the terms for which the former Confederate states would be permitted to join the Union. President Lincoln’s plan for reuniting the country was found in the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
Andre Fleche’s first-rate study of how the European revolutions of 1848 influenced the American Civil War arrives amidst recent calls by scholars to internationalize the history of America’s great conflict.[1 ] Fleche argues that the legacy of the 1848 revolutions influenced Union and Confederate conceptions of nationalism, as the competing sides participated in the “transatlantic dialogue” (p. 3) over the definition of the modern nation-state. Americans believed that their revolution provided an example for the world, and used the success or failures of subsequent European revolutionary struggles to measure the viability of American republicanism as a world model.
In the book “Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tome’s Cabin and the Battle for America” by David S. Reynolds, he debated for the unprecedented impact of the Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe over the American’s democracy, society, and culture. David S. Reynolds graduated from the University of California, and received a Ph.D. in English Literature. Also, he is an author of fifteen books, in which have altered general supposition and along these lines have profoundly affected numerous parts of American life. The Book indicates that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was redefined American’s democracy on a more equitable basis. Also, the book indicated that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin was fundamental which reclassified American’s democracy on the basis of
The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).
The 19th century was a period of widespread social, economical and political problems in the United States, from the 1890s to the 1920s in need of reform. Both parties were created by the people’s dissatisfaction with the government and its ability to appeal to the majority. The Populist movement was founded my farmers, laborers and middle class civilians that wanted government regulation in the economy, more authority in the government, educating immigrants, to prevent government corruption and high positions to be based on experience.
The Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.
Exam Paper 1 In what ways did the American West of the late nineteenth century represent a contrast to the East? In what ways did the two regions resemble each other?
The Civil War allowed the United States to make the changes necessary to unify the country. In addition, it began one of the most transitional periods in the United States’ history. This period, the Reconstruction, brought about many political, social, and economic changes, which were both beneficial and disagreeable. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Panic of 1873, and the formation of the Ku Klux Klan are just a few examples of heavily impacting events for the United States. During the Reconstruction period there were numerous political transformations in the country.