Chapter 30

1. Chapter 30 The Americas in the Age of Independence

2. Warm-Up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkdF8pOFUfI While watching the video, complete the following information: • List 3 important historical figures and their significance • List 5 vocabulary terms important to this topic • Write TWO discussion questions that could be asked of the class AFTER viewing this video • One thing that you found interesting

3. Westward Expansion of the United States • Britain cedes territories between Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River • Napoleon Bonaparte sells Louisiana Territory, 1803 • Heck of a deal • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark map the territory, 1804-1806 • Settlers move west • “Manifest destiny” to occupy all lands between Atlantic and Pacific

5. Conflict with Indigenous Peoples • Native peoples resist incursions onto ancestral lands and traditional hunting grounds • Formed alliances, also sought British support in Canada • U.S. Indian Removal Act of 1830 drives natives into “Indian Territory” (Oklahoma) • Seminoles forced to march, some escape to Florida • Cherokees migrate 800 miles: the Trail of Tears (1838-1839); thousands die en route

6. Armed Conflict • Sioux, Comanche, Pawnee, and Apache peoples resist • 1876, Lakota Sioux destroy army of Colonel George Armstrong Custer, battle of Little Big Horn (Montana) • U.S. forces have superior firepower, including cannons and Gatling (machine) gun • 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee Creek • Nervous U.S. cavalry slaughters men, women, and children

7. The Mexican-American War (1845-1848) • Mexico then included Texas, California, New Mexico • Texas, influenced by many U.S. settlers, declares independence from Mexico in 1836 • Accepted into Union in 1845 despite Mexican protest • Conflict ensues, Mexico forced to cede territory in Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) in exchange for 15 million dollars

9. Sectional Conflict • Major issue: slavery to be allowed in new territories? • Tobacco cultivation on decline, but cotton industry spurs new demand for slaves • U.S. slave population rises from 500,000 in 1770 to 2 million in 1820 • Missouri Compromise (1820) attempts to strike balance between slave and free states

10. Roots of the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) • Abraham Lincoln elected president, 1860 • Committed to antislavery position • Issue of slavery highlighted principle of states’ rights, scope of federal authority • Eleven southern states withdraw from Union, 1860-1861 • Southern economy dependent on cotton as cash crop • Northern economy developing industrialization, wage earners

11. The Emancipation Proclamation • First two years of war inconclusive • 1863, Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation, makes abolition of slavery explicit goal of the war • Battle of Gettysburg (1863) turns tide against south • North wins after four years of bloody conflict

12. Canada: Independence without War • Regional divisions in Canadian society, but independence achieved without war • British and French Canadians • French territories ceded after Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) • Concessions made to large French population • Recognition of Roman Catholic church, French law code • After 1781, British population in Ontario joined by loyalists fleeing U.S. War of Independence

13. The War of 1812 • U.S. declares war on Britain over encroachments during Napoleonic wars • British forces in Canada repel U.S. attacks • Social tensions between French and English populations remain • British wish to avoid repeat of U.S. War of Independence, gradually extend home rule between 1840 and 1867 • Durham Report (1839) by John George Lambton (1782-1840)

14. British North America Act (1867) • Joins Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick as Dominion of Canada • Other provinces join later • Provincial and federal governments with governor-general as British representative • Dominion controls all domestic affairs • Foreign affairs after 1931 • First Prime Minister John A. Macdonald (1815-1891) purchases territory, builds trans-Canada railroad

16. Latin America • Creole elites produce republics with constitutions • But less experience with self-rule • Spanish, Portuguese more autocratic than British • Creoles also limit wide participation in politics • Significant political differences divide creoles • Conflict with indigenous peoples • Especially in Argentina and Chile • Caudillos (regional military leaders) come to power • Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentina, brutally maintained order (Argentine Nero – 22,404)

17. Mexican Reform Attempts • After U.S.-Mexico war, reform government of Benito Juárez (1806-1872) comes to power • Attempts to limit power of military, church • Juárez meets powerful conservative opposition, forced out of Mexico City • Suspends loan payments to foreign powers; Europeans intervene to collect investments • French, Mexican forces clash in 1862 (May 5th)

18. The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) • Middle-class Mexicans, peasants and workers join to overthrow dictator Porfirio Díaz (1830-1915) • Revolutionary leaders Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919) and Francisco (Pancho) Villa (1878-1923) lead masses of landless peasants • Popular, but unable to take major cities • Mexican Constitution of 1917 addresses many of the major concerns of land redistribution

23. American Economic Development • California gold rush of 1845, also Canadian gold rushes, attract migrants • Others migrate to factories, railroad construction sites, plantations, support services • Some, especially Italians, migrate and return several times

24. Economic Expansion • British capital spurs vast expansion of U.S. industry • Massive expansion of rail system: • 31,000 miles before 1861, almost all in eastern U.S. • 200,000 miles by 1900, coast to coast • Necessitates division of U.S. into four time zones • Massive expansion of economy, 1870-1900 • Electrification • Trade unions

25. Canadian Prosperity • British investments in Canada • Policy of economic development: the National Policy • Attract migrants, promote start-up industries, build transportation infrastructure • U.S. also invests in Canada, owning 30% of Canadian industry by 1918

26. Latin American Dependence • Limited foreign investment • Small size of Latin American markets • Interest in exploiting raw materials • Argentina: beef • Limited industrializing initiatives foiled by government corruption • Yet significant export-driven rise in economy

27. Societies in the United States • U.S. population most culturally diverse in the hemisphere • Indigenous peoples subject to formal policy of forced assimilation • Destruction of Buffalo-based economies • Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 shifts policies away from collective tribal reservations • Native children taken from families, enrolled in white-controlled boarding schools

28. Freed Slaves • Slavery ended, but social discrimination remains • Northern armies occupy southern states, forced social program of Reconstruction (1867-1877) • Violent backlash follows their departure • Land-poor freed slaves forced to work as sharecroppers • Violence and intimidation continue

29. Canadian Cultural Contrasts • British and French each view selves as principal founding peoples of Canada; principal social tensions between them • Also small populations of slaves (before abolished in 1833), freed slaves, runaways, Chinese migrants • Louis Riel (1844-1885) leads natives and métis (mixed-race) in rebellion in western Canada • Defeated, Riel sent into exile; attempts another rebellion in 1885, executed

30. Diversity in Latin America • Complex social structure, based on racial background • Europeans, natives, African slaves, and combinations thereof • Increasing migration in nineteenth century from Asia • Some conflicts between cosmopolitan cities and rural areas • Symbol of rural culture: the gaucho cowboy

31. ALTERNATE HISTORY!! • You’re creating the storyboard for a new History Channel production called “What if?” • Think about how the Industrial Revolution changed the social and economic fabric of the United States. Would the Civil War have been different if fought before the Industrial Revolution? • To answer this question, write/illustrate FIVE scenes that you would want included in your program.

32. Making Connections: The U.S., Canada, and Latin America in the Age of Independence • Obviously they were all struggling with the process of building states in the aftermath of cutting colonial bonds with Europe. What did they have in common? How difficult is it to build a state? What really sets these areas apart from some (although certainly not all) of their European predecessors is the diversity and complexity of the population. It could be argued that Canada, even considering the indigenous peoples and the troubling split between British Canadians and French Canadians, had the least complicated makeup. Is it just a coincidence that the Canadian experience was less bloody than its southern counterparts? Even here you have Louis Riel, the métis, and the Northwest Rebellion. Though the political history of the United States is not nearly as complex or troubling as that of Latin America, it was still necessary to fight a devastating civil war to dampen sectional difficulties and preserve the Union. Another factor to consider is the level of self-government allowed by the Europeans before independence. The Latin American countries received little latitude in self-rule, which made the process that much more challenging after independence.

33. The American Civil War: Parallels with Canada and Latin America • Starting with the American Civil War is a good way to examine issues that confronted all three societies. Students are usually familiar with this topic, but you might want to refresh their memories since the conflict was more complex than many of them may remember. In looking at the various issues—slavery, industrialization, expansion, democratic reforms, and sectionalism—from the American perspective, you can point out the parallels in Canada and Latin America. What is interesting is that most American students tend to see the Civil War as inevitable. Point out that the United States tried several compromises similar to those the Canadians and Latin Americans employed. (Think, for example, of the Missouri Compromise.) The question then becomes: why didn’t these work for the United States? This is an interesting twist for students who tend to see America as the most successful state during this period, and is likely to spark a good deal of discussion.

34. The American Concept of Manifest Destiny • The American concept of manifest destiny is an interesting topic for discussion. Students have already read about the rise of nationalism in Europe. Now they can take what they have learned and ask the same questions about the American experience. Were the Americans every bit as nationalistic as the Europeans? Why did they feel a sense of ownership of the continent? What was their view of the indigenous people who stood in the way of American expansion? How was the Monroe Doctrine an expression of this growing American sense of nationalism? Students will see the creation of a true American empire in the coming years and chapters. It is important for them to get a sense of the roots of this nationalistic and expansionistic fervor. How would this desire for conquest and greatness push the United States onto the world stage? When the United States pushed all the way westward and California became a state, then the Americans suddenly had a second coast and a new outlook on the world. What were the results of this movement?

35. Case Study: “I Fear Peace more than War” • Simón Bolívar said, “I fear peace more than war.” Ask students what he might have meant by that statement. How much more complex is it to build a state than to fight for independence? Political fissures are often covered up by an immediate military threat. What challenges did the new American states face as they set about creating a stable state? It might be useful to start specifically with the United States so that students are in familiar territory, but then you can branch out to examine Canada and Latin America. Ask the students to think of other areas that may have faced similar problems. Are there some problems that are unique to particular countries? This topic will also set up forthcoming chapters on decolonization in Asia and Africa. For that matter, the students don’t really have to go any further than the situation in the former Yugoslavia, central Asia, or the middle east to see the dangers of state building in the modern world.

36. The Fate of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas • Simón Bolívar also pointed out in a speech that the “greater portion of the native Indians has been annihilated.” The fate of the indigenous population in the United States, Canada, and Latin America plays a very important role in this chapter. It is one of the downsides to territorial expansion and nation building in the Americas. To their credit, American students usually show a great deal of interest in the nature and eventual fate of the indigenous population. Consequently, this is a natural topic for discussion. Ask the students if they have seen other, similar examples of aboriginal peoples being pushed aside by expanding states. Is this treatment a natural part of the political process? Is it unavoidable? Were there other ways around this situation? It is an uncomfortable topic for students because the subject comes a bit too close to ethnic cleansing. It is the uncomfortable nature of the discussion, however, that proves its value.

37. Comparing Migrant Settlers and Indigenous Peoples • Divide the class into three groups. Assign each group one region of the Americas during the nineteenth century, and then ask them to analyze and consider the relationship between migrant settlers and indigenous peoples during this period. In a group discussion, identify both comparisons and contrasts in these relationships, and then move to a discussion of how these pasts interact with and influence contemporary relationships today. Go to the Internet and access the website of the National Museum of the American Indian at http://www.nmai.si.edu. Then compare it with similar efforts elsewhere, such as the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s “First Peoples” virtual exhibits, at http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/first-peoples, and a discussion of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, at http://www.inside-mexico.com/cultura1.htm. Ask students to consider how these public historical displays interact with historical experience, and what this suggests about the relationship between academic and public history in general.