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Unit 4: Jacksonian Democracy/The Young Nation Chapter 11: The Great Transformation – Growth & Expansion 1828-1848. Characteristics of the Antebellum South. Primarily agrarian Very slow development of industrialization Economic power shifted from the “upper south” to the “lower south”
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Unit 4: Jacksonian Democracy/The Young NationChapter 11: The Great Transformation – Growth & Expansion 1828-1848
Characteristics of the Antebellum South • Primarily agrarian • Very slow development of industrialization • Economic power shifted from the “upper south” to the “lower south” • “Cotton is King!” • Slave labor
Changes in Cotton Production 1820 1860
Social Classes of the South • Planters • Made up about 5% of white population, but controlled large amounts of the best land & the most slaves • Owned 20 or more slaves • Plantation mistress bore heavy burden of responsibility • Socially & politically dominant
Social Classes of the South • Small slaveholders • Made up about 20% of white population • Owned less than 20 slaves • Frequently on the move looking for better land & profits
Social Classes of the South • Yeoman • Largest group of southern whites (about 2/3) • No slaves • Owned their own farms & focused primarily on food crops for self-sufficiency • Did grow some cash crops & desired to become slaveholders
Social Classes of the South • Poor Whites • Made up about 10% of white population • Owned no land & no slaves • Often squatters or laborers on other farms
Life as a Slave • Differed based on many variables • Only were provided the bare necessities (food, clothing, housing) • Most slaves were employed as field hands • Others were house slaves or worked in non-field occupations • Viewed as property, not humans
Manifest Destiny • Belief that the U.S. was destined to expand westward to the Pacific • Used to gain public support for American territorial expansion ".... the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federaltive development of self-government entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the space of air and the earth suitable for the full expansion of its principle and destiny of growth.” – John L. O’Sullivan
Oregon Country • Traveled the Oregon Trail from St. Louis to the Pacific NW • 1830s Missionaries reported the beauty of the land • Resulted in “Oregon Fever” of the 1840s
Oregon Country • Oregon Treaty (1846) extended the existing U.S. – Canada boundary at the 49th parallel west to the Pacific
The Texas Question • State in the Republic of Mexico since 1822 • By 1835, thousands of Americans had migrated to Texas after the Mexican govt. offered land grants • Texans proclaimed independence in 1836
The Texas Question • Mexican dictator Santa Anna annihilated the Texan garrisons at the Alamo
The Texas Question • Led by Sam Houston, the Texans finally defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto River • Treaty of Velasco recognized Texas’s independence & acknowledged the Rio Grande as the border between Texas & Mexico
The Texas Question • Houston asked the U.S. govt. to annex Texas, but Jackson said no • Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845
Early Railroads • 1828 Maryland chartered the B & O Railroad, using a steam locomotive • Rail transport couldn’t rival water-based transportation • Problems • No coherent network of track • No standard track size • Boiler explosions, fires, & derailments
Mormon Community • Founded by Joseph Smith 1832 • Forced to migrate to Illinois due to religious persecution • Under the new leadership of Bringham Young, they moved to the valley of the Great Salt Lake • Didn’t accept strangers & made it difficult for non-Mormons to stay in the region, except Indians