Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Sophs- Antebellum America


So far in our Antebellum America unit we have covered 2 of the 3 main themes, including westward expansion and early industrialization. On a separate word document, you will examine several more topics that involve westward expansion up to 1860. Use the links in the questions to answer the following. Answer each question in a well developed paragraph. Be sure to paraphrase in your own words.

Save any unfinished work in your e-locker on StudyWiz.

1. John O'Sullivan coined the term, "Manifest Destiny." What does this phrase mean. Read the entire article to understand its importance. How does Manifest Destiny link to westward expansion?

2. President Andrew Jackson issued the Indian Removal Act in 1830. Explain the details of this act. What happened to the Cherokee nation? How does the Indian Removal Act fit with westward expansion?

3. Explain the impact of the California Gold Rush in 1849. How does it link to westward expansion?

6 comments:

Christy Flick said...

1. The term “Manifest Destiny” is the idea that Americans were destined to expand their land over man different places. These places included the far west, Cuba, Mexico, and Central America. The reason to expand consisted of many ideas. Some dreams of farmers and pioneers were to turn the fertile land and plains into small towns and farms. It was dreams like these that made Americans more pro to expanding the land. This expansion made people believe god things were coming as a result. Therefore, the number of believers in manifest destiny increased.

2. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson issued to Indian Removal Act. This act was issued out due to the Europeans land expanding addiction. The Indians were still living in the West during westward expansion and Europeans saw them as a threat. The federal government was addressed by this “Indian issue”, when the Europeans decided to petition them until the Indians were removed from their land. In 1814, Andrew Jackson destroyed the Creek Indians in the battle of Horse Shoe Bend. The Indians were forced to surrender twenty million acres of their land. Jackson continued to take over Indians land. The Indians were starting to realize they would not be able to defeat the Americans, therefore they believed that if they surrendered a great amount of land then they could keep some of it. The Europeans resisted to this, although legal statements advice some sort of negotiations between the Europeans and Indians with the land issue. When Jackson became president, he proposed the removal act which states that if an Indian tribe agrees to give up their homelands, the United States will grant them land west of the Mississippi River under the protection of the United States and gives them supplies needed to travel to their new lands. The Cherokee tribe resisted and took this issue at hand to court, winning. The court ruled that they were their own separate nation and did not have to abide Georgia Law.

3. The California Gold Rush occurred in 1849. James W. Marshall discovered several spots of yellow mineral near a saw mill he was working at. At first, he thought it was fool’s gold so to test if it was real gold he placed the bits between rocks and tried to smash it. Instead of smashing, the gold just bent. He then realized that he had discovered a gold mine. Many people wanted a piece of the gold rush, so thousands of people moved to California. In one year, California’s population went from 14,000 to 100,000. All these new people and cultures turned California from a low key society into a wild, violent and ethnically diverse one. Society in California was falling apart, in the first year alone there were over 1000 murders committed but yet only one conviction. Indians were being murdered for sport, and there were efforts to establish “popular “courts. There was an exclusive group of coteries of fur trappers, government explorers, traders and missionaries who carried the American flag into the far west. Soon, fertile lands were discovered and opened a path for farmers and ranchers to settle in. Yet the north and south still fought over whether or not slavery would be allowed and California’s prices became raised. The Gold rush lasted less than a decade but the affects have had a forever lasting impact.

Sarah Demers said...

1. The tern “Manifest Destiny” expressed the romantic emotion that led Americans to risk their lives to settle the Far West. This means that it was the thought that Americans were intended to move westward and risk their lives. It was an idea brought to attention during this time that people both men and women were to migrate because they were destined to stretch across the continent. This linked to westward expansion because it brought forth this initiative to expand westward. Expanding westward led to the Lewis and Clark expedition, and also eventually led to war because of conflicts with the Native Americans. It also led to people following the ideas of manifest destiny because they were getting good things out of this expansion.
2. The Indian Removal act of 1830 was issued by President Andrew Jackson. This act was issued due to the expansion of the Americans. They were ‘invading’ the Native American territory. They kept moving southeast and finally petitioned to the government and that they are removed immediately. Eventually Andrew Jackson led and expedition against the Creek Indians. He had destroyed there power and demanded them to give up over 20 million acres of their land. This had removed the Indians. The Cherokee nation resisted on challenging Georgia laws in court that restricted their freedom of their land. Eventually they started to move west of the Mississippi River and many of them died on the travels there. The Indian Removal Act links to westward expansion because the Americans were greedy and only wanted land at this time. They kept pushing west and southeast where the Native Americans already had their land. The Americans would overthrow the Native Americans and eventually give them a grant to move west. They would send them there with all the supplies they needed to survive the travels and they would become their own separate nation.
3. The impact of the California gold rush was very influential. It occurred in 1849 when James W. Marshall found bits of yellow minerals. He at first thought they were fools gold and tried to smash it and realized it was real gold when it bent. This led to many men rushing to California to search for gold. About 80,000 men came from all around the world. A huge impact on San Francisco was that at the beginning of that summer the population was only 459 and within a couple of months it raised up to 20,000. This links to westward expansion because of the huge expansion westward. Once this gold was found far west people rushed out to California to look for gold. This led to an increase in population and residing. Many people chose to then stay and live in California.

John czerwinski Green said...

1. John O’sulivan’s phrase “manifest destiny” means that it is the destiny of the American people to migrate as far west as possible. This encouraged many Americans to move westward into the Mississippi river and into the mid west. Expansionist felt that it was necessary for the U.S to own the entire northwest region all way up to the south border of Alaska.
2. The Removal Act of 1830 was a process where the president could give land anywhere west of the Mississippi to any Indian tribe that peacefully surrendered their land to the U.S. Many tribes were moved to the west. The Cherokees did not accept the treaty. The Cherokees fought the treaty in Georgia state court. The court found that the tribes where domestic dependent nations within the U.S. later on the U.S. contradicted itself and forced the Indians to sign the removal act. The Chief of the Cherokees John Ross signed the treaty. Though a vast majority of the Cherokees would fight the act with violence leading the tribe to being escorted to Missouri under the U.S army. The Indian removal Act fits the westward expansion theme because the act gave white settlers nearly a million acres of land west of the Mississippi.
3. The California Gold rush fits the westward expansion because where there was a source of quick riches almost every intelligent American and foreigner came to America in the hope of striking it rich quickly. The value and rarity of gold meant that it was a very high priced commodity. This burst of wealth brought Americans from the south and east to California.

Alex Markward said...

1. John’s phrase “manifest destiny” means it’s the destiny of American people to travel and migrate to the west as far as they can. Also the phrase expressed the romantic emotion. Many Americans traveled towards the Mississippi river and into the mid west. America had a special destiny to stretch across the continent. Manifest Destiny encouraged men and women to dream big dreams.
2. The Indian Removal act of 1830 issued to the expansion of the Americans. Andrew Jackson led an expedition against the Creek Indians and doing so he destroyed there power and demanded them to give him millions of acres. This has removed all the Indians and most moved towards the west. Cherokee did not accept what was going on. The Cherokees fought the treaty in Georgia court. Later U.S. forced the Indians to sign, John Ross; chief of Cherokee signed the treaty. The Indian Removal act helped the westward expansion theme because gave land west of the Mississippi river.
3. The California Gold rush occurred in 1849, when James Marshall discovered spots of yellow mineral near a saw mill he was working. He then realized that he found a gold mine. The value and rarity of gold meant that it was very high priced. The California Gold rush fits in with the westward expansion because there was a resource of quick richness causing a lot of people from all over to come to America in search of gold

Blaine Fasy said...

1.Manifest Destiny means that they wanted Americans to stretch across the continent. It links to the Westward Expansion because the idea of living out west motivated people to do so. It inspired Americans to dream big. They wanted to expand at West to make new discoveries. This spread out the people from the East so they could experience all of the United States.
2.The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was issued by President Andrew Jackson. The President granted that the land east of the Mississippi would belong to the Native Americans only to the Indian tribes that gave up their homelands. They were invading the Indian’s territory. The Cherokee did not accept this treaty, and challenged the Georgia laws that restricted their freedoms on tribal lands. This fits into the Westward Expansion because they moved further and further West because they were taking land away from the Indians.
3.Discovered by James W. Marshall in 1849. The Gold Rush transformed California from a dull society into a wild and exciting one. San Francisco alone had more than 500 bars and 1,000 gambling dens of gold. Unfortunately there were thousands of murders in San Francisco, and one conviction. Forty-niners were a nickname of the immigrants who traveled to California in 1849. This fits into the westward expansion because people wanted to go to the gold mines and make money. More people began to move to California because they wanted to be rich.

Zach Miller said...

1. John L. O Sullivan coined the term manifest destiny. It is considered to be a very influential phrase in American history. The Phrase Manifest Destiny was a phrase to describe the intense emotion that led men and women to put themselves in harms way to settle in the far west. The phrase Manifest Destiny links to Westward Expansion because it had to do with the idea that America had a special destiny to stretch across the continent. It expressed people’s motivation to migrate west. Manifest Destiny encouraged men and women to dream big dreams, and caused westward expansion.

2. The Indian Removal Act from 1830 was an act that helped the U.S Government displaces Indians from their tribes and land. The Cherokee Nation resisted, they challenged the Georgia laws that did not allow them the freedoms on their tribal lands. In his 1831 ruling on the case of the Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall said that the Indian Territory is supposed to compose a part of the United States, and affirmed that the tribes were domestic dependent nations. He said their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian. Although, the following year the Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that Indian tribes were indeed sovereign and immune from Georgia laws.

3. The California Gold Rush in 1849 had a very big impact. It was a very important time in California history. There lots of discoveries of gold in California and lots of people came to California to find gold. It contributed to Westward Expansion because everyone would go to the west in California from all over the United States to find gold. It was a very prolific time because a lot of people were finding gold and making money. It was a wealthy time in California and all over the country.