Unit 2: Early Republic and Expansion

Unit Description

Once our Constitution was created, the new United States of America sometimes stumbled to find its way in the world. In the early days of the republic, the young country was suddenly confronted with some brutal facts – as a new nation, there were many hurdles they needed to conquer. Our first presidents needed to be shrewd in the way they handled foreign policy to protect America’s new sovereignty. However, even from our nation’s foundation, the oppression of non-white people stood in contrast to the fresh promises of the “land of the free.” The early successes of our country that we often celebrate today, including the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and territorial expansion, were directly tied to the oppression of African Americans and Native Americans..

After establishing itself as a major player on the world stage, the United States began to expand across the continent. The Louisiana Purchase and acquisition of Florida gave our country a hunger for new lands and resources, and both northern and southern states wanted to spread out across the continent for a myriad of reasons. With Manifest Destiny as their motivation, the United States used diplomacy and aggression through the mid-19th century to acquire more territory, eventually reaching “from sea to shining sea”.

As the nation expanded, they did so on the backs of oppressed groups. Native Americans saw their lands taken; African-American saw the further expansion of slavery; women saw themselves remain as the property of the men who were running this new country. Under the belief of Manifest Destiny, the United States destroyed cultures, stole land from others, and transformed the natural landscape to fit the needs of the new nation. And with its growth, many people recognized that our country was not perfect, and began to fight to change it. While expanding, our country became increasingly divided, and oppressed groups began to fight back against their oppressors

Essential Question

How does growth shape a nation’s identity?

Themes

    • Historians must challenge the dominant historical narrative because it is often told from the perspective of the oppressor.
    • Land features create different societies and also create conflicts between people.
    • Nations expand their land in order to increase power and improve their lives, which often has negative consequences on the lives of oppressed people.
    • Economic growth is the primary driving force behind the actions of individuals, groups, and countries.
    • All humans have fundamental rights.
    • Social and practical innovations affect how people live throughout the course of history.

Standards Addressed

  • 7.1.1 Produce clear and coherent writing for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences
  • 7.2.4 Describe the major political and economic events, and policies of the Washington and Adams presidencies
  • 7.3.1 Analyze political, social, and economic factors that led to westward expansion from 1800–1850
  • 7.3.2 Identify and explain foreign policy developments between the United States and other nations from 1800–1850
  • 7.3.4 Compare and contrast the political, social, and economic development of the different regions of the United States
  • 7.3.5 Explain reasons for the expansion of slavery in the South after 1800 and describe the life of enslaved African Americans, and their responses to slavery
  • 7.6.1 Analyze settlement patterns of racial and ethnic groups in the United States from 1763–1877
  • 7.6.3 Analyze patterns, motivations and the impact of rural and urban migration in the United States from 1763–1877
  • 7.7.1 Explain how Americans adapted and transformed various physical environments in the United States to expand its growth and influence
  • 7.9.1 Compare and contrast political divisions of the world from 1763–1877
  • 7.9.2 Explain various ways nations interact and the impact of these interactions from 1763–1877
  • 7.9.3 Explain how United States foreign policy was developed and carried out from 1781–1877
  • 7.11.2 Explain how economic interdependence developed between regions of the United States and with foreign countries
  • 7.11.3 Describe government policies that influenced the United States economy

Unit Outcomes

Students will know:

  • Early Presidents faced domestic and foreign policy challenges as the new nation was finding its footing in the world.
  • George Washington, as the 1st President, set some precedents on what it meant to be a good American president.
  • Our first political parties developed over a disagreement about the power of the national vs. state government. This struggle continues to and through the Civil War
  • The Louisiana Purchase not only doubled the size of the United States, but it allowed America to expand and exert its influence across the continent.
  • American settlers would take advantage of the Native populations as they began to move westward into the new territory.
  • The Embargo Act failed because businesses needed to trade with other countries as global interdependence increased.
  • Slavery expanded westward as southern settlers found great new fertile farmland for the production of cotton.
  • The War of 1812 cemented America as a power player on the world stage, and allowed the country to make pronouncements like the Monroe Doctrine that would be heeded by the rest of the world.
  • Andrew Jackson is sometimes credited as a populist President, but in fact he hurt many people, including Native Americans and the former slaves whose new territory in Florida he invaded.
  • Americans believed that they were chosen by God to expand across the country and civilize the area
  • In an attempt to civilize native populations, Americans usually end up killing them off in violent conflicts over land
  • American settlers were instrumental in turning the area from a Mexican settlement into the largest state in the USA at the time
  • The Mexican-American War was started over a border dispute and shots being fired from one side at the other, but the historical record is unclear as to who really began the war
  • After peacefully acquiring Oregon, many American settlers took the perilous overland journey to the new territory in search of a better life.
  • Many single men moved to California in 1849 in pursuit of riches after someone had discovered gold there. Most were unsuccessful

Students will be able to:

Historical Thinking:

  • Annotate documents
    • Use the different steps for different types of documents when analyzing their contents
  • Source documents
    • Identify author’s point of view/position on a historical event
    • Identify author’s purpose in producing the document
    • Consider the source’s audience
  • Contextualize sources
    • Understand how context influences content of the document
    • Recognize documents are products of particular points in time

Writing:

  • Strong body paragraphs
    • TOSEEC
    • Topic Sentences
    • 2 types of evidence
  • Strengthening evidence
    • Context
    • Extended Response
    • Introducing Text Evidence

Unit Misconceptions

  • The history of America is often told through the lens of the rich and powerful men who made decisions that made our country what it is today. While our unit focuses largely on these decisions and their impacts on the country, the point of this unit is to drive home how those decisions impacted the country as a whole, common people as well as the powerful leaders.
  • Students may be tempted to see America as a cohesive whole, where all people were affected by events in the same way. Teachers must ensure students are seeing a variety of perspectives of decisions that are made by our early Presidents.

Unit Vocabulary

  • ratify - formally accept or make valid
  • political party: group of people who want the same thing from government
  • Federalists: led by Hamilton, in favor of strong central government
  • Anti-Federalists: led by Jefferson, in favor of strong state governments; also known as Democratic-Republicans
  • Washington’s Farewell Address: 4 key messages delivered when Washington left office (no debt, no alliances, no political parties)
  • Whiskey Rebellion: Washington crushes rebellion using army
  • foreign policy: a government’s strategy for dealing with other nations
  • Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson pays $15 million to France for Louisiana territory, doubles size of USA and gets control of Miss. River
  • Lewis and Clark: explorers who mapped out LA territory
  • War of 1812: 2nd war of Independence, America beats England and proves that is a powerful country
  • Battle of New Orleans: final battle of the War of 1812, made Andrew Jackson a hero
  • Embargo Act: Jefferson stops American trade with all other countries, it hurts American businesses and gets repealed
  • isolationism: the policy of remaining apart from the affairs of other countries.
  • Monroe Doctrine: said that European countries should refrain from further colonization of Americas; if they tried, America would intervene
  • Jacksonian Democracy: era of increased participation in government by the lower classes
  • spoils system - the practice of a successful political party giving public office to its supporters or friends
  • Indian Removal Act: Andrew Jackson’s law that took land from the 5 Civilized tribes. Declared unconstitutional, but Jackson ignored that
  • Trail of Tears: long and difficult journey where many died from Native American lands to new reservations in Indian Territory
  • Southern economy: the wealth of the region which was driven by agriculture, cash crops, and relied on slavery prior to the Civil War
  • Northern economy: driven by manufacturing and raw materials from the South
  • manufacturing: to make something out of raw materials using machinery. (Ex: cotton becomes manufactured into clothes)
  • cotton gin - a simple machine invented in the 1790s that cleaned cotton exponentially faster than humans could and increased the demand for enslaved people and more farmland
  • cash crops- crops that are grown to sell and make money, not for use by the grower
  • chattel slavery- the system of slavery in the United States prior to 1865, where enslaved people were viewed as property that could be bought, sold, traded or inherited
  • Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson pays $15 million to France for Louisiana territory, doubles size of USA and gets control of Miss. River
  • Lewis and Clark: explorers who mapped out LA territory
  • Manifest Destiny: the idea that America was destined by God to expand west and reach from coast to coast
  • Texas War for Independence: war fought between Tejanos and Mexican government, allowed Texas to become independent
  • annex: take control over
  • Mexican-American War: war fought between the USA and Mexico over a border dispute in Texas
  • Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo: treaty between the US and Mexico that ended the Mexican-American War and forced Mexico to give up its northern territories.
  • Mexican Cession: land Mexico gave up after the Mexican-American War
  • Oregon Trail: long, hard journey by pioneers to Oregon Territory
  • Gold Rush: thousands of mostly single men move to California to find gold
  • The Homestead Act: a law passed by the federal government that virtually gave away huge plots of land for free to settlers.
  • California Gold Rush: the discovery of gold in California, leading to the migration of thousands of young single men in search of gold