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The War of 1812
The War of 1812 began because the British navy began capturing American sailors at sea and forced them to fight in the navy. Because of this America declared war on Britain for a second time. The U.S. invaded British held territory in Canada, and fought Britain at sea. Britain attempted to capture New Orleans, Louisiana, but the Americans, lead by Andrew Jackson fought back and won the battle. Jackson became a war hero and peace was signed in Britain though not because of Jackson's victory. -
Cotton and Slavery in the South
As the cotton market took off in America (specifically the South) because of how good the quality of was, so did slavery. Cotton became extremely profitable and was in high demand, but for there to be cotton, there also had to be manual labor to grow the cotton, and this labor was found and exploited in the form of slaves. Though not all, many slaves suffered terribly at the hands of their masters, being forced to work long hours, and entirely defenseless to any cruelty from their masters. -
The Anti-Slavery Movement
As slavery became more and more prominent in America, many people began to realize just how bad it was. This realization lead to the Anti-Slavery movement majorly taking off, with people working constantly to find ways to persuade slave owners to free their slaves. -
Jackson and the Bank War
War hero, Andrew Jackson runs for President and is elected. He does not renew the National Bank's charter after it expires, because he believes that the National Bank is corrupt and does not benefit the majority of the American people. Jackson goes to war, in a sense, with the bank, choosing to move the government's money to smaller private banks rather than keep it in a national bank. However, this made the economy unstable, and a depression happened because of it. -
The Trail of Tears
Congress passes an act that requires all Indians to move further west so that Americans can expand their territory. When the Cherokee tribe refused to move, the American army moved them by force. The trip became known as the Trail of Tears, because out of the 16,000 that started the trip, only 10,000 survived it to the end. -
Manifest Destiny
Coined by John O'Sullivan, the term Manifest Destiny, also known as Westward Expansion was the idea that Americans had a God given right to expand their territory from one coast to the other. This idea however, had a price. When Americans moved further west, they were driving out the Native Americans that already lived there. -
The Sectional Crisis
As Anti-Slavery sentiments grew in the North and Pro-Slavery sentiments became an absolute in the South, slavery became a very divisive issue. As Americans expanded west into new territories the question of whether or not these territories would be slave or free became more and more serious. In the past whenever a slave or free state was added to the Union, another state would be added to make everything equal. However, both sides became increasingly hostile to the opposite side as time went on. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected and Southern Secession
The Republican Abraham Lincoln is elected President, and because he identifies with the Anti-Slavery Republican party, the State of South Carolina secedes from the Union for fear of slavery being abolished. 10 more Southern slave states follow suit shortly thereafter. -
The Civil War
In April 1861, shots are fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Civil War begins. The war, fought by the Northern Unionists and the Southern Confederates started out as a fight over whether or not the south would stay or leave the Union. However, as the war progressed, it quickly became a war over slavery. It was very bloody and thousands died on both sides in the four years that the war took place. Eventually the Union won the war in 1865 and the slaves became free. -
Reconstruction
The 13th Amendment is passed and slavery is abolished. Abraham Lincoln is assassinated, and the Union starts to slowly be put back together. However, there is still much racism left in America.