American history
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United States in the 19th century. (2023). In Q-files Encyclopedia, History, American history. Retrieved from
https://www.q-files.com/history/american-history/united-states-in-the-19th-century
"United States in the 19th century." History, American history, Q-files Encyclopedia, 30 Aug. 2023.
https://www.q-files.com/history/american-history/united-states-in-the-19th-century.
Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.
United States in the 19th century 2023. History, American history. Retrieved 19 March 2024, from
https://www.q-files.com/history/american-history/united-states-in-the-19th-century
History, American history, s.v. "United States in the 19th century," accessed March 19, 2024.
https://www.q-files.com/history/american-history/united-states-in-the-19th-century
United States in the 19th century
Following the Revolutionary War, George Washington became the first President of the United States in 1789. The national capital moved from New York to Philadelphia and then to Washington, D.C. in 1800. War broke out between the US and its old colonial masters, Britain, in 1812, when Britain attempted to restrict American trade with their enemy, France, and supported Native Americans attacking settlers in the Midwest. The British invaded US territory and burned Washington, but were turned back at Baltimore and defeated at the Battle of New Orleans. The war ended with the Americans claiming victory in February 1815. After that, Americans vowed, in the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, that European powers should never again be allowed to interfere in the Americas.
Expansion of US territory
Through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States had gained vast areas of land, previously owned by France (who reacquired it from Spain in 1800), west of the Mississippi River. In the 1830s and 40s, the nation grew rapidly, as more territory was added to the west—despite continuing resistance from the Native Americans.
When the Republic of Texas was annexed in 1845, war broke out with Mexico in 1846 over competing claims. The US was victorious, also gaining California and New Mexico by the peace treaty of 1848. The northwestern territory of Oregon was added in 1846.
American Civil War
By the 1840s the issue of slavery dominated US politics. Anti-slavery opinions were in the majority in the North, but the white South was overwhelmingly pro-slavery. After Abraham Lincoln became president in 1861, seven Southern states broke away from the union and set up a new nation, the Confederate States of America. When its forces attacked a US Army fort in South Carolina, the Civil War was ignited. After four years of war, the Confederates surrendered. On 6th December 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution was adopted: it abolished slavery throughout the USA.
An emerging power
The second half of the 19th century saw the settlement of the West, first by wagon trains, and then by the completion of the first transcontinental railroads. Large numbers of European immigrants set up farms on the prairies. The US Army, meanwhile, dealt with any remaining resistance from the Native Americans. With their tribal lands acquired by the US government, they were forced on to reservations.
In 1898, the US fought Spain over Cuba, whose struggle for independence from Spain it supported. With superior naval power, the US triumphed easily, gaining possession of the Philippines and Puerto Rico as part of the peace settlement.
Industrial growth was extremely rapid. By the end of the 19th century, the US had the strongest economy in the world. Between 1880 and 1914, more than 22 million people migrated to the US from Europe.
When World War I broke out in Europe from 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the US would remain neutral. But Germany's policy of carrying out submarine warfare against American ships supplying goods to the Allies brought the US into the war in April 1917.
Consultant: Philip Parker