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The term Manifest Destiny was coined by journal and newspaper editor John O'Sullivan in 1845. It describes American's urgency to migrate West and expand the nation. It also highlights the various hardships that occured along the way to Westward Expansion.
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This article, written by Catholic convert Orestes Brownson, explains why Catholicism is necessary in the preservation of a democratic governement. Irish immigrants, usually Catholic, had been discriminated against when they first moved to America, but later played an important role in the Democratic party.
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The Free Soil Party opposed the extension of slavery into the West. It appealed to small farmers and unskilled workers with its "free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men" sologan. Although no president was elected from the party, it did have some power in the House of Representatives.
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Horace Mann played an important role in the area of education. He not only led a movement to set up more elementary schools but also lengthened the school year and improved teaching standards. Mann also worked to recruit well-educated women to be teachers.
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At the Seneca Falls Convention Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott read their "Declaration of Sentiments," which pushed for women's rights. The first day of the convention was dedicated to women speakers only. At the end of the convention, it was signed by 100 people who attended, both men and women.
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The Fugative Slave Act allowed Southern slaveowners to recover runaway slaves as well as free blacks. It also denied blacks the right to testify or trial by jury. Many Northerners opposed it and in October of 1850 a Georgia slave driver was kicked out of town and two slaves were able to escape with the help of Boston abolitionists.
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In 1852 Connecticut author Harriet Beecher Stowe's book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was released. The book was widely popular and played a role in changing American people's veiw on slavery, making many people realize that something needed to be done about slavery.
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William Loyd Garrison was a strong abolitionist who wrote a radical anti-slavery newspaper called "The Liberator" and helped found American Anti-Slavery Society. Later in his life he also supported women's rights and the aboliton of prisons.
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In 1858 Protestant's pushed for the elimination of polygammy in the Morman religion. In response, President James Buchanan sent a small army to Salt Lake City, Utah and removed Brigham Young from his postition as governor of Utah. The war did not amount to much because Buchanan feared it would lead to the end of slavery.The Morman way of life continued to survive and was more successful than other new groups such as the Shakers.
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Lincoln, an ambitious Republican politician, won the presidential election of 1860. Lincoln believed that slavery should be cut out like a "cancer." As a result he was not well liked by southerners and his election strenghtened their threats of succession.
