Module 6 Introduction and Assigned Sources
Introduction
During the American Revo
Module 6 Introduction and Assigned Sources
Introduction
During the American Revolution, and in the decades that followed, Thomas Jefferson believed that the survival of the nation, and the viability of its democracy, depended on westward expansion. If America remained confined along the eastern seaboard, Europeans, particularly the British, could conquer lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, and even the Mississippi River, and threaten the nation’s existence. Jefferson also believed that a nation that remained confined to the coast would quickly descend into despotism and unrest. If America did not expand westward, it would become increasingly congested and there would be little available land for future generations. People without the option to own their own land or real estate in growing towns and cities would become dependent on employers for their jobs, particularly in manufacturing, where they would be paid low wages. And men who did not own land or meet property requirements during this time could not vote or become officeholders. The wealthy would thus control not only the economy but the American political system. A kind of oligarchy would replace America’s fledgling democracy. Landless and property-less laborers would care little for the nation’s well-being since they had no political voice and might even revolt because of their oppression and threaten the nation’s existence.
For Jefferson, westward expansion was the remedy. It was America’s safety-valve. Future generations of agrarian farmers would be able to acquire land in the West, which would not only give them voting rights but also ensure they remained free from the oppression and manipulation of despots. In short, increased land ownership ensured the independence rather than the dependence of the people – a necessary precondition for the survival of a democratic republic. It’s no surprise then that one of Jefferson’s main achievements during his presidency was the Louisiana Purchase (1803) in which America paid France $15 million for 828,000 square miles of western land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. For Jefferson, westward expansion ensured that American would maintain an “empire of liberty.”
In one sense, Jefferson’s dreams came true. During the nineteenth century, America expanded rapidly westward eventually acquiring land all the way to the Pacific. The nation’s westward growth increasingly marginalized or neutralized the geopolitical and economic threats posed by British, Spanish, and French encroachment. Westward expansion also created more opportunities for land ownership for White families, which ensured their political participation and investment in the nation’s political and economic well-being. Westward expansion became not only a political and economic necessity, though – it seemed divinely ordained. How else to explain the massive expanse of land in North America that was only sparsely occupied by “savages” and not civilized people of European descent? It was America’s duty to expand and spread civilization; it was its “Manifest Destiny” as the ideology became known at the time.
In another sense, though, the consequences of westward expansion called into question the idea of America as an “empire of liberty” and, in fact, nearly destroyed the nation itself. As you will read this week, as America expanded westward so did slavery and the nation’s cotton kingdom. This required removing Native Americans from their lands, which contained some of the most fertile and productive soils in the nation, and resettling them on arid land in “Indian territory” in the West. Liberty, freedom, and profit for some – in this case White settlers – required the dispossession and enslavement of others. The westward expansion of slavery in the South and West also occurred at time when Northern states finally rid themselves of the institution. This led to growing political and economic tensions between North and South that would become the kindling for the sectional crisis and, eventually, the Civil War – a topic we’ll cover next week.
Readings
“The Decline of Northern Slavery and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom,”Links to an external site. https://www.americanyawp.com/text/08-the-market-revolution/#III_The_Decline_of_Northern_Slavery_and_the_Rise_of_the_Cotton_Kingdom Part III, Chapter 8, The American Yawp
“The Cotton Revolution,”Links to an external site. https://www.americanyawp.com/text/11-the-cotton-revolution/ Chapter 11, The American Yawp
“Manifest Destiny,”Links to an external site. https://www.americanyawp.com/text/12-manifest-destiny/
Chapter 12, The American Yawp
Film
Manifest Destiny Links to an external site. https://fscj-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_FSCJ/b590d6/alma991003319432406575
From the film’s descriiption: “In the first half of the 19th century, Americans pushed westward across the Appalachians, the Mississippi River, and the Rocky Mountains, en route to the Pacific Ocean. The frontier experience shaped the American character. At the same time, land hunger, gold fever, and the pursuit of “Manifest Destiny” resulted in the removal of many American Indian nations, acquisition of vast swaths of Mexico through the Mexican American War, and a painful debate over the expansion of slavery.”
Instructions
Instructions: You must write everything in your own words unless you are quoting assigned sources. Please cite assigned sources using simple parenthetical citations: (Chapter 12, The American Yawp), (Manifest Destiny film). You have 90 minutes to complete the quiz. There is no length requirement for each question. Simply answer them to the best of your ability. The best essays are not always the longest.
Question 110 pts
How did the rise and expansion of the cotton kingdom during the 19th century transform the lives of enslaved people? Provide two examples and support your points with specific evidence from assigned sources.
Question 1
How did the rise and expansion of the cotton kingdom during the 19th century transform the lives of enslaved people? Provide two examples and support your points with specific evidence from assigned sources.
Question 2
In Chapter 12 of The American Yawp, the authors write that the “beliefs and resulting actions” of the “manifest destiny” ideology, which argued in part that “God and the Constitution ordained an irrepressible destiny to accomplish redemption and democratization” in the West and throughout the world, “were disastrous to anyone to anyone in the way of American expansion.” How do you explain this apparent irony? How could such seemingly noble, and divinely sanctioned, beliefs produce “disastrous” consequences at the time? Your answer should provide two examples and use evidence from the assigned reading and film.
Question 3
Imagine you’re writing a book about the topics covered in this week’s readings and film. What would you title your and why?