Dominant Themes in American History

There are many dominant themes in American History from 1607 to 1861, but I am only going to talk about the two that I refer to as the biggest. Slavery was a huge problem in American history but it also helped America become a country. Without slavery Americans would have never been able build the economy as it did. Slavery was also the main cause of the Civil War which of course wasn't good. The south wanted to keep slaves and the north wanted to abolish slaver, so when Abraham Lincoln was elected president the south succeeded from the union which eventually led to the Civil War. The second biggest theme in American History I think was electing Thomas Jefferson as President. While Thomas Jefferson was president he managed to cut Americas debt nearly in half. This was an incredible accomplishment. He didn't do this by just sitting in office and not spending any money. He cut down on presidential employees and pressured congress to abolish the direct tax of 1798. Not only did he nearly cut the debt he half he also doubled the size of the United States, with the Louisiana Puchase, without adding to the debt. His presidency contributed greatly to the United States of America by cutting the national debt in half and doubling the size of America. Thomas Jefferson did the most with his time as president and contributed greatly to the history of America.