Democratic-RepublicanDominance and Westward Expansion
Standard VUS.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major events from the last decade of the eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century by
a)Explaining the principles and issues that prompted Thomas Jefferson to organize the first opposition political party;
b)Identifying the economic, political, and geographic factors that led to territorial expansion and its impact on the American Indians;
c)Examining the reasons why James Madison asked Congress to declare war on Great Britain in 1812 and how this divided the nation.
In 1800, the American people elected Democratic-Republican candidate Thomas Jefferson as president of the United States. When Jefferson defeated President Adams’ bid for re-election in the 1800 election, it was the first American presidential election in which power was peacefully transferred from one political party to another. Jefferson’s election began a period of Democratic-Republican dominance of American politics for more than two decades. James Madison, Jefferson’s successor, served as president between 1809 and 1817. Events on the world stage caused President Madison in 1812 to ask Congress to declare war on Great Britain. American involvement in the War of 1812 divided the nation until the war’s conclusion in 1815. After the War of 1812, the new American republic experienced dramatic territorial expansion, immigration, economic growth, and industrialization. Prior to the Civil War (1861-1865), thousands of Americans moved west to settle new frontiers. The hunger for land and the ideology of “Manifest Destiny” stirred these Americans into action. In short, economic and strategic interests, supported by popular beliefs, caused the United States to expand its territory to the Pacific Ocean.
During Jefferson’s presidency, the United States purchased the huge Louisiana Territory from France. This 1803 purchase doubled the size of the United States overnight. President Jefferson then sent the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the new territories that lay west of the Mississippi River. Sacajawea, an American Indian woman, served as their guide and translator.
The Jefferson administration alsoindirectly involved the United States in the Napoleonic War between France and Great Britain. Both European powers had violated the United States’ rights as a neutral nation, because neither wanted its enemy to trade with the United States during the war. In addition, since the British navy desperately needed sailors, the British stopped and boarded American ships and seized any suspected British deserters. This action was called impressment, which is the practice of drafting sailors by force. In 1807, the Jefferson administration responded to impressment of American sailors by passing the Embargo Act. Since embargo means refuse to trade, the Embargo Act provided that no American ship could leave an American port for a foreign port, nor could any foreign vessel load a cargo at an American city.
The Embargo Act was an economic disaster for the United States. It especially hurt the economy of the New England states, which depended on shipping and trade for prosperity. Federalists gained increasing popular support by denouncing the Embargo Act as unconstitutional. State governments in New England even threatened to nullify (void or wipe out) this federal law. In 1809 James Madison, also a Democratic-Republican, succeeded his friend Thomas Jefferson as president. Madison quickly replaced the unsuccessful and unpopular Embargo Act with the less severe Non-Intercourse Act. Instead of banning all foreign trade, as the Embargo Act had done, the Non-Intercourse Act only made trade with Great Britain and France illegal. Unfortunately, Madison’s Non-Intercourse Act was almost as big a failure as Jefferson’s Embargo Act. The British navy continued to impress American sailors, thereby forcing them to serve on British warships, and interfered with American shipping rights as a neutral nation. British interference with American shipping and western expansionism fueled the call for a declaration of war by young Western congressmen. This group, called the War Hawks, believed the British were encouraging Indian attacks on American settlers on the western frontier. The War Hawks, led by Henry Clay of Kentucky, thought an American victory in a war against Britain would speed up westward expansion and result in American conquest of Canada.
Under pressure from the War Hawks, the Madison administration finally asked Congress to declare war on Great Britain in 1812. The War of 1812 lasted until 1815. Regional self-interests led to a divided nation at war against the British. New England Federalists opposed Madison’s war resolution, talked of secession, and proposed constitutional amendments that were not acted upon. Federalist criticism of the War of 1812 contributed to the disintegration of the Federalists as an effective political party on a national scale. Although the end of this war produced no major changes, American public opinion believed the United States had achieved victory over the British. This belief produced an American claim to the Oregon Territory and increased migration of American settlers into Florida. The United States later acquired Florida from Spain by an 1819 treaty, called the Adams-Onís Treaty.
Relations with foreign nations continued to concern the United States during the next decade. In 1823, the United States government issued the Monroe Doctrine, which set forth the basic principles of American foreign policy for the rest of the nineteenth century. The Monroe Doctrine takes its name from President James Monroe, the Democratic-Republican who succeeded Madison as president. The Monroe Doctrine contained four important points. First, the United States said that European nations should not consider establishing future colonies on the American continents (North and South America). Second, nations in the Western Hemisphere (North and South America) were inherently or basically different from European countries. The countries of North and South America were republics by nature, while the European nations were monarchies (ruled by kings or queens). Third, the United States would regard as a threat to its own peace and safety any attempt by European powers to impose their system of government on any independent state in the Western Hemisphere. All American presidents have continued to follow the precedent set forth by this part of the Monroe Doctrine. Fourth, the United States would not interfere in European affairs. In short, the Monroe Doctrine warned European nations to stay out of the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. If European leaders tried to influence or control the governments of Latin American nations, then they would face strong opposition from the United States. The United States government would use its military force to protect its power and interests in the Western Hemisphere.
As indicated by the American purchase of Louisiana and Florida and interest in Oregon, westward movement and economic development were two trends in American life during the first half of the nineteenth century. American settlers poured westward from the coastal states into the Midwest, southwest, and Texas. They sought economic opportunity in the form of land, both to own and to farm. The growth of canals and railroads helped the growth of an industrial economy and supported the westward movement of settlers. In addition, in 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which mechanically separated cottonseeds from cotton fiber. Whitney’s invention led to the spread of the slavery-based “cotton kingdom” across the Deep South. American migration into Texas led to an armed revolt against Mexican rule in the war for Texas independence. At the Battle of the Alamo, a band of Texans futilely fought to the last man against a much larger Mexican force. Although the Mexicans killed all the men defending the Alamo, the Texas army continued the fight against Mexican rule. When the Texans defeated the Mexican army several weeks later, Texas thereby gained its independence. The independence of Texas from Mexico in 1836eventually resulted in the annexation (addition; incorporation of territory) of Texas by the United States in 1845.
The belief that it was America’s “Manifest Destiny” to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific provided political support for territorial expansion. Under “Manifest Destiny,” Americans believed it was God’s will that the United States span the entire continent from one ocean to the other. Following “Manifest Destiny” to its logical conclusion, the American victory in the Mexican War (1846-1848) led to the acquisition of an enormous territory in the West. This territory, known as the Mexican Cession, included the present-day states of California, Nevada and Utah, as well as parts of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
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VA/US History Narrative 6