Amanda Emmerich AP US History April 2010

1. The Road to Civil War- a Time of Change in America 1841-1860 Amanda Emmerich AP US History April 2010

2. Thesis • Throughout 1841 to 1860, many changes arose socially and also in the economy, but none were as great as those witnessed in political change like eight presidencies and countless revolts along with conventions campaigning for more equal rights.

3. Social Change

4. Literature • Walt Whitman composed “Leaves of Grass” which was a volume of twelve poems in which he developed a new, modern type of poetry that was controversial for his time, while Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the “Scarlet Letter” about a time period of the past.

5. Literature • Herman Melville published his sixth novel “Moby-Dick” in 1851 and floundered when translated because people who read it were expecting something totally different.

6. John Brown • John Brown was a big antislavery person who organized the antislavery massacre in 1856 which became known as “Bleeding Kansas,” and lead the raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. • John Brown was captured and hung after his1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry.

7. Harriet Beecher Stowe • Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a response to the strengthened Fugitive Slave Act and in it she elucidated that slavery was immoral.

8. Minority Groups • Chinese immigrants arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush to find gold, but instead found work, and after the Irish Potato Famine, many Irish Catholic came to the United States seeking refuge. • The Chinese immigrants working to find gold.

9. Political Change

10. Women’s Right Convention • July 19, 1848 was the Women’s Right Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, where Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were the leaders in the First Women’s Right Convention for equality for men and women.

11. Jim Crow Laws • The first Jim Crow Law passed in Massachusetts in 1841 and segregated railroad cars.

12. Eight Presidencies Between 1841 and 1860, there were 8 presidents: William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln (the winner of the 1860 Presidential election).

13. New States Admitted • During this time, seven new states were admitted to the United States of America and they were, Florida- 1845, Texas (slave)- 1845, Iowa- 1846, Wisconsin- 1848, California- 1850, Minnesota- 1858, and Oregon- 1859.

14. Compromise of 1850 • Introduced a strengthened Fugitive Slave Law and California became a free state, while Utah and New Mexico were left to be determined by the process of popular sovereignty.

15. Kansas-Nebraska Act • The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, repealed the Missouri Compromise and in determining the slave or free status of each, the territories were opened to popular sovereignty.

16. Dred Scott v. Sanford • The Dred Scott Case nullified the Missouri Compromise, stated that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories, and also declared that slaves, even if in a free state or territory, were property and not citizens.

17. Election of 1860 • Lincoln campaigned to contain slavery in the territories which ensured that some of the Southern states would secede and a reason he won was because the democratic party split into Northern and Southern Democrats. • Abraham Lincoln won 40% of the electoral vote.

18. Republican Party • The Republican Party was established in 1856 and was composed of the remnants from both the Free Soil party and the Whig party.

19. Economic Change

20. Communist Manifesto • Written by Friedrick Engels and Karl Marx in 1848 and discussed the ideas behind communism but also predicted the downfall of the capitalist system by reasoning the flaws which the system possessed. • “…all the surplus that goes to the capitalist as profits is in reality the ‘property’ of the working class who created that wealth.”

21. Manifest Destiny • Starting in 1845, to help the economy, “manifest destiny” was used to describe the United States destiny and duty to expand to the west- “From sea to shining sea.”

22. Railroads • The addition of new lands would lead to a newer and more efficient transportation system of railroads that would help the economy boom by shipping goods and people quicker.

23. Gold Rush • 1848- many people moved west to California in search for gold that was there and many had hoped to get enough to be very wealthy and be helped economically.

24. Conclusion • Between 1841 and 1860, many changes transpired that changed the American nation through economic suggestions and social development in literature and discrimination, but none were as greatly changed as the political aspects in America like countless changes in presidents and new laws to from a greater America.

25. Works Cited • http://www.hudsonvalley.org/education/Background/Timeline/Complete/complete.html • http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_a410Qj7cNb0/SvYMLebUGuI/AAAAAAAAAS4/Bt7fu8c69p4/s400/harriet_beecher_stowe-uncle_toms_cabin.jpg • http://www.animatedatlas.com/timeline.html • http://images.google.com • http://www.indepthinfo.com/communist-manifesto/analysis.shtml • The American Pageant Textbook (Book)- Thomas A. Bailey, David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen • 5 Steps To A 5: AP U.S. History (Book)- Stephen Armstrong