U.S.History up to 1877
Historyis useful in the understanding the present world as it can beconnected to the happenings of today. The US underwent a lot from the1400s to the 1800s that molded it to its current state. There wereearly settlements, slavery, struggles, and search for freedom. Therevolutions, democracy, and internal divisions were fought for, andfinally reconstructions were undertaken (Hale54).The wars in search for independence against Britain, affected thepolitical philosophies and revolutions in the US.
Thefirst Americans were the ‘Indians’ who settled between 15,000 and60,000 years back. They built irrigation systems, roads, and tradelinkages. Even so, the southern Mexico societies were more organizedthan the Northerners who were illiterate, lacked scientific knowledgeand metal tools for navigation. Zuni and Hopi ancestors settled inthe current New Mexico building planned towns with many familyresidences while trading in Central Mexico and Mississippi. Those inthe east survived on corn, beans, and squash, together with huntingand fishing. The European and Indian freedom was then sought throughChristian liberty, authority, and general liberty. Between 1405 and1433, the Chinese under ZhengHehad seven voyages into the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese alsocolonized the Atlantic islands establishing plantations where theslaves worked. These helped in the growth of Europe. There was theSpanish empire, which governed Spanish America in which the CatholicChurch helped in administration (Hale39).The Dutch and French empires in 1608 colonized France.
QueenElizabeth in the years 1596 to 1601 ordered the deportation of slavesto Portugal and Spain because English had the world’s highest slavepopulation. This helped the poor England population accessemployment. Additionally, she expected from Spain the Englishprisoners who were taken captive. On June 18th 1614, John Rolfe wrotea letter to Sir Thomas Dale acknowledging his love for Pocahontas andpermission thereof to marry her (Foner23).The marriage secured peace for Jamestown for a decade, until 1622,when a massacre occurred. In 1619, John Rolfe accounted for thearrival of slaves in Virginia from Africa through the Dutch traders.The Commonwealth Court of Massachusetts Bay in December 1641adopted the Body of Liberties as law. It entailed rules and rites onjudicial proceedings, liberties of free men, women, servants,children, and foreigners. Mary Dyer in 1659 wrote a letter to theCommonwealth Court of Massachusetts asking them to stop thepersecution of Quakers. In 1670, Virginia Court stripped AnthonyJohnson, an African-American, of his property because he was analien.
ALondon merchant, Thomas Mun, in 1664 explained the significance offoreign trade in England for a better future. Penn in 1675 created anew colony based on religious tolerance because he had undergone manyjail terms for having unorthodox religious views. In the year 1682,Penn argued for the need to have a democratic representation forindividual liberty to be safeguarded (Foner10).The parliament approved The English Bill of Rights in1689 to be ajustification for King James II to be overthrown. It enumerated thecitizen’s rights and the powers of the parliament. Georgia wasfounded in 1733, as a refuge for prisoners and debtors with arepresentative system of governance.
TheBritish Board of Trade received the Stono report in 1739, and it wasrecommended that the natives get rewards for having the escapingslaves captured. John Edwards, in 1741 demonstrated the emotionallycharged preaching method that became common in the era. He was aprominent preacher who moved to all colonies, created newdenominations, and made religious freedom widespread. The boundarywas under violence and instability. Therefore, Benjamin Franklinsuggested the Albany Plan of Union in 1754 (Foner20).Not all colonies could embrace the plan, but they realized that theyshared some interests that could be handled by a common government.There was a proclamation in 1763, which established the westernboundary of the 13 British colonies after the war for seven years.
TheBoston Massacre occurred in 1970, where the British soldiersmassacred innocents who were unarmed. The parliament in 1773 adoptedthe Tea Act, which instituted a tax to recover finances from EastIndia Company. In May 1774, the Sons of Liberty forwarded a leafletdeclaring the public implementation of Boston Port Act. On March 23,1775, a convention was awakened in Virginia by Patrick Henry, whichstarted the battle with Great Britain. The battle was unavoidable,and Patrick Henry affirmed that he is given either liberty or death(Foner30).He claimed that the conditions would deteriorate if Americansremained in the England’s governance. On July 4, 1776, ThomasJefferson declared independence from the Great Britain followingrevisions and approvals from the Congress. In 1783, Great Britain andthe new United States government signed the Treaty of Paris. This waswith the help of French that made General Washington attain victoryagainst British.
Afterthe announcement of independence, each colony started a series ofconstitutional conventions and in 1776, a lawyer, John Adams, issuedTheThoughtson Government.He objected radicalism, and suggested for a balanced government(Foner39).In October 25th, 1781, General George Washington requested for thereturn of slaves who were recaptured, and helped their forces. In1784, James Pemberton, a Quaker, informed that the Quakers hadrequested the legislature on the issue of slavery and itseradication. He also commented on the need to allow African-Americansto be participants in Quaker meetings.
OnMarch 14, 1779, John Jay received a letter from Alexander Hamiltonconcerning recruitment of black soldiers. He was of the opinion thatslaves would be better soldiers than the whites would. In 1780,Thomas Jefferson spoke in a letter of how the Native American ethnicgroups should be treated by the government. In 1788, Luther Martingave an explanation as to why the word slave did not appear in theconstitution (Foner43).He said slavery was not consistent with the thought of republicanism.On June 16, 1788, Patrick Henry claimed that it was absurd not tohave the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. On August 29, 1796,President Washington drew a plan for acquiring peace between theCherokee Nation and the United States.
OnNovember 9th, 1789 Benjamin Franklin called for the dismantling ofslavery in various ways and bring it to an end. In April 1789,President Washington conveyed his first inaugural address at the NewYork’s City Hall. He took an oath of office before many people, anddelivered the address (Finkelman78).Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792, argued for employment and education forwomen. In 1814, Federalists from New England met at Hartford andproposed the constitution to be amended, to have a two-thirds vote ofthe Congress for war declarations, new states admission, and tradelaws.
InMarch 1806, the United States Congress debated on the funding to haveCumberland Road constructed. On July 7th, 1828 John Morris gave aspeech at the event to lay a foundation for the Ohio Railroad, whichwould extend across westward to the surroundings and the Atlanticcoast. In 1824, Thomas Dorr debated for the need to alter the RhodeIsland Constitution to empower those who were not property holders.In 1830, the voting right was extended to include almost all whitemen (Finkelman56).In 1848, the abolitionists’ men and women argued that citizenshipfruits should be extended to women and African-Americans. In 1850,George Fitzhugh defended slavery and its importance. In 1852, therewas the sale of stock and slaves, which included descriptions,prices, and ages of slaves for sale. Joshua Coffin argued againstproslavery advocates by leading an uprising in 1860, claiming thatthe slaves were not pleased with the enslavement.
WilliamGoodell in 1853 suggested that a system of slavery did not haveanyone free including the master. He also made a contrast betweenslavery in the South, and free labor in the North. In 1869, CharlesHarding spoke of the alcohol abuse menace. Almost each person inAmerica took alcohol before the launch of abstinence movement. OnJuly 22nd, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln worked on an orderbelieved to be a political, moral, and military need. He gave thedraft to the cabinet for comment as he had professed that the slaveswere free. The September 22nd, of 1862 saw the final release of thedraft on the freedom of refugees. In 1864, life was full ofuncertainties because of the civil wars as explained by AndrewsMemoir (Alexanderand Rucker 80).The supporters of Republican with the aid of Abraham Lincoln at theend of the war, hurriedly cemented the elimination of slavery in theConstitution, and this was made a fundamental law. This was throughthe thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments between 1865 and1869.
Atthe end of the war in 1865, General William Sherman attained anadministrative ownership of a large area in the South among them,those highly occupied with slaves. He faced the difficulty ofsettling and feeding the large population hence, distributed SpecialField Order 15. It declared the coast for settlement in forty acreslots and mules for food. In 1866, the Congress approved the CivilBill of Rights. All those born in the US were citizens despite theirrace and therefore, required some rights. Haywood in 1871, protestedagainst denying women voting rights, and having them ruled contraryto their will. Female suffrage campaigners were annoyed when the 15thalteration assured the right to vote for men irrespective of theirrace, but explicitly excluded women (Alexanderand Rucker 100).In 1876 an announcement for a run-away help demonstrating theconstraints on the slaves’ freedom, including the seriousness oftheir masters in detaining their indentured workers was illustratedin the sermon by Frederick Douglass.
Inconclusion, the US history was full of people who fought forsuffrage. There were struggles to end slavery and their segregationand disenfranchisement. There were tussles to uphold women’s rightsthrough voting rights, education, and employment. The US historyuntil 1877 also saw revolutions by men who fought because of unsolvedconflicts the British had with the colonists. Therefore, it is seenthat History helps understand the chronological occurrences in theworld, as it enables one to appreciate their origin and destiny.
Workscited
Alexander,Leslie M and Walter C Rucker. Encyclopedia Of AfricanAmerican History. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print.
Finkelman,Paul. Encyclopedia Of African American History, 1896 To ThePresent. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
Foner,Eric. Give Me Liberty!. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,2014. Print.
Hale,J. R. The Civilization Of Europe In The Renaissance. NewYork: Atheneum, 2013. Print.
Roediger,David R. How Race Survived US History. London: Verso,2008. Print.