History Test 1 Flashcards
(29 cards)
1787
This is the time the constitution was made
executive, legislative and judicial branches,
The three branches of the government
Legislative: is the law making body in this case Congress where there are two hoses the lower house with house representatives which are elected after every two years ( the number of representatives is determined by the number of people in each state therefore the higher the population the more house representatives there are) and the upper house which has senators who are elected after every 6 years ( each state has two senators regardless of population and size) however after every 2 years senators 1/3 of the senators need to be re-elected.This body can check the executive branch by refusing the president funding and it can check the judicial branch by impeaching the Supreme Court judge’s.
Executive: this is the branch that consists of presidential duties. The president is elected after 4 years and can only run for presidency for two terms ( the limited was officially made in 1951 due to the fear that the democratic aspect could be lost if the president is constant for a long time). The executive branch can check the executive branch by vetoing a law however this can be overturned if 2/3 of congress votes for the law again. The judicial branch can be checked by the president has the power when the president appoints the nine judges
Judicial branch: this is the branch that makes sure congress and the president are abiding by the law. The judges are chosen by the president with the agreement of congress. They check both the legislative and executive branch by determining whether they are abiding by the constitution
governor,
Every state has a governor and state level version of the three branches of the government.
Process of administration
New areas first assumed territorial status, electing a territorial government. Once the population of a territory had reached 60,000, it could submit its proposed constitution to Congress and apply to become a state. In 1820 there were 23 states. By 1850 the USA comprised 30 states.
(null)
Slavery in the constitution
The Constitution implicitly accepted slavery because, for the purposes of counting population (to work out each state’s representation in the House of Representatives), each slave was considered to be three-fifths of a free person.
Parties
By the 1830s the USA had two major political parties: the Democrats and the Whigs. The parties, although operating nationally, were not particularly united. They were really
The democrats was almost a dominantly southern party. They were older compared to the whigs and many presidents where democrats as opposed to the whigs
The whigs party was a northern based party which was solely united due to their hate for Andrew Jackson
Democratic Party
Democrats believed that most issues should be decided at state, not federal, level. They opposed government intervention in economic matters and supported the lowering of tariffs.
Had southern views
Whig party
Whigs were more likely to favour government intervention in economic and social matters and supported higher tariffs.
Had northern views
Limited government
The federal government had limited power in the us. This was majorly because every thing in America was handled in state level therefore the citizens had close to no interaction with the federal government. Similarly it was impossible for America to be a one party state that ment that the making of decisions would be significantly harder and it would take longer. Additionally the president was a figure head and a deliver of patronage- giving jobs to supports- and he had close to no input in policy making
Sectional interests
- Economic differences
The north was more industrialised compared to the south their economy relied on more mixed farming compared to the south but all in all the average north and south farmer owned about 50-500 acres of land. The south wasn’t fairly behind economically though in fact southern cotton accounted for at least half of the American exports.
As for the south there income majorly stemmed from the growing of cotton and Tobacco which was grown in large scale hence the need for slaves.contrasts of popular belief in 1820 1/3 of families in the south had slaves and this was the rich large scale southern farmers. The souths politics was controlled by this small group of southerns. Similarly the north was also controlled by the rich minority businessmen.
- Urbanisation
The north was fairly urbanised compared to the south in 1830 only 6 of America’s largest cities were located in the south. Besides these only 1:10 American lived in towns in 1820 and in 1860 1:5 Americans lived in cities. - Immigration
Most of the immigrant population settled in the north with 1:6 Americans being born in foreign countries as opposed to 1:30 in the south. The south had about =35 percent of the population of America and only 10% of manufacturing goods came from the south. - Tariffs
The north wanted tariffs for protectionism measures while the south didn’t want tariffs and saw them as a way to make the federal government more money and to benefit the northern businessmen at the expense of southern farmers.
The south also hated that northern businessmen earned more profits from cotton compared to them because they transport and marketed the cotton.
Slavery
Slavery in 1776 existed in all the 13 states of British America at the time . However just lik in the 19th century it was more instrumental in south compared to the north this was Mainly because the northern climate was not suitable for plantation agriculture. When America gained independence slavery in some northern states stoped immediately and in other states this happened gradually.
The growing opposition at the time came from radical Protestants that saw the act of slavery as a vile practice that need to end while other Americans thought slavery didn’t align with the country’s values which were equality, liberty and freedom.
In south before the invention of the cotton gin cotton was not as profitable in fact only 9000 bales of cotton was made in America before the cotton gin. However after the introduction of the cotton gin America was able to bring up production to 2 million bales hence making slaves more valuable as the cotton farming become more profitable.
In fact America was able to surpass Britain due to their use of slaves
Abolitionists
This where a group of Americans that wanted to stop slavery. Most abolitionist at the time supported gradual emancipation where slavery would be distinguished slowly and slave owners would be financially compensated. Then the slave would be encouraged to move back to Africa. In fact America purchased Liberia in 1819. However only 10000 slave moved and by 1860 the slave population grow by 2 million. There was just not enough fund to emancipate and transport slaves to Africa
Militant abolitionism
This was a group of radical abolitionist that wanted slavery to be abolition right there an then. They where inspired by the book the liberator published in 1831 by william …. This book stated that slavery was a sin that needed to be abolished. The national anti- slavery i=society was formed in 1833. Theys often orhganized riots and they put up ant slavery literature that couldn’t be done without the the help of women and free black peoples.
Free blacks
A
The Mexican War
The Mexican war was caused due to border disputes ( Mexico claimed that Texas border was at nueces rivier while America claimed it was at Rio grande), angered Mexico due to the annexation of Texas and the manifest destiny.
America was at advantage since they had better weapons, superior navy, good army men who were trained at West Point ie Robert e lee,enthusiastic volunteers from the south and west and
By summer 1846 America had more control in California compared to Mexico a strategically places john . C. Fermot at the coast of California helped Americans seize control. Zachary Taylor defeated the Mexican army at bueno vista and winfield Scott together with 11000 soldiers marched thro rough terrain and before seizing Mexico City they took down fortresses.
By the time the war was over Americans had spent 100 million and many southerns were calling for annexation of the whole of Texas however this could not occur considering that many northerns where against the war peace talk had to begin
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The treaty of Guadeloupe hidalgo (February 1848) settled that war would stop and California and New Mexico would belong to America. This made president polk unhappy since he thought that more land could be obtained. However this could not be done since northern were not so happy with the war in the first place and not many southern were key on ruling over Mexico’s half Spanish and Native American people. America grid about 2/5 of the land they own now
The impact of population growth and movement
The growth of the population between 1800 to 1850 grew by a seven fold. This was majorly due to America’s resources packed land which had timber, land and minerals. By the 1820s more and more Americans were moving to the south. At the time each woman would have about 5 children. In 1810 thee population was 9.5 in 1830 it was 13 million and in 1850 it was up to 22 million. Immigrants also played a huge growth in the growth of population
Southern fears
Since immigrants impacted the norths population greatly this ment that the north had up to twice or three times more people compared to the south. This meant that the north dominated the House of Representatives which consequently meant that keeping the senate equal was of great importance for the south. This meant that the south was crazy keen on expanding slavery into new territories since this meant two more senators in congress.
The impact of the Mexican War 1846–50
The Mexican war wasn’t taken well by northerners both before , during and after the war this is majorly because the north was quite sure that America would acquire this land however the politics on whether it would be a slave por free state scared many Americans
The Wilmot Proviso
Suggested by senator wilmot a western democrat in 1849 this was a proviso that proposed that slavery should be banned in each new territory acquired in the Mexican war. The bill passed nearly in the house if representatives with a vote of 83 out of 64 votes. However it failed in the senate. Wilmot suggest this proviso not because he was an abolitionist who hated slavery he just wanted the new territories to be full of only white settlers that didn’t have to compete with slave owners when it came to farming.
The Calhoun Doctrine
This was suggested by john. C. Calhoun a senator from South Carolina. He was a southern democrat who was pro slavery. He was known for the nullification crisis in the late 1820s. He came out with a set of resolution in 1847 that claimed that northerners had the right to take the property wherever they please. If the federal government seeks to oppose this the southern states should consider secession.
Nullification Crisis
The nullification crisis of late 1820s was proposed by John. C. Calhoun who was a southern democrat and the senator of South Carolina he stated that states should have the right to reject federal law if they deemed it unconstitutional. An example of this is when South Carolina declined the tariff law of 1832 president Jackson quickly threatened South Carolina with war and South Carolina threatened to secede from the union however this was not possible since the didn’t acquire support from other southern states
The search for compromise
During this time congress was searching for a way to hand the new territories being added to country on whether they would be slave or free states. This led two western democrats Lewis cass and Stephen Douglas to come up with popular sovereignty. This sovereignty allowed states chose on whether they wanted to become slave or free states. The northerners liked it since this would be a way to stop slavery form spreading considering that the new territories wouldn’t have wanted slavery. While the south like this since it reduced federal power.
However this sovereignty raised a lot of questions such as whether the federal government still had the power to declare if a state would be free or slavery. This issue on when this decision would be made also come up.
The popular sovereignty was taken greatly by abolitionist who believe that slavery shouldn’t be chosen and it should be abolished similarly pro slavery southerns thought that they had the right to Katie there property wherever they pleased and that no body should deny them that.
The 1848 election
On the democrats side there candidate was Lewis cass who was a western democrat who had sympathy for the south.there platform was on popular sovereignty and they won 1.22 million popular votes and 114 electoral votes. While the whigs candidate was Zachary Taylor who’s platform was war hero. He was a slave owner therefore the south was please with him he won 1.6 million popular votes and 127 electoral votes. He was able to muster up to 8 of the 15 slave states and 7 of the 15 free states.
There was also a new party known as the free soilers there aim was to be raise awareness for there party they weren’t sure on whether they would win their platform was on wilmot proviso and their candidate was former president van buren (who was president during the recession) they only got 690,000 votes and no electoral votes
