Dominant themes in American History

There are many major themes that happened in American history. All these themes made America what it is today. It started out when the new land was found, but that is too far back to start out with. When slaves were brought over to help with crops, America had began to expand and more people had began to live here. This is what started the change everything. It was a major theme because it marked the beginning of knowing that things will be different for awhile. The American Revolution was another major theme because there were many wars during this time period and a lot of fighting over control of land. There was finally an end to all the disputing and led to discussing a new set of rules for America. The creating of a new government led to making the new rules and documents for America. These are things such as the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Another major theme is now starting to have presidents to control the country and make sure there is someone there to make all the decisions needed to be made. All of this led to different groups beginning to form going against one another, which were the people for slavery and the people against slavery. Soon, the biggest part of history came into effect when Abraham Lincoln ran for the presidential office. He had many new ideas that went along with slavery and other ideas to help America. All of these led to the huge changes that were to be made and that was the Civil War. This is the biggest theme of all because it was what helped America become something that everyone wanted to be a part of.

5 causes of the Civil War

5 issues/events/actions that contributed to causes of the Civil War

• Slavery- this was a huge part of this time period. Slavery existed everywhere and led to arguments to cause the Civil War.
• Abolitionist Movement- people started striving higher law from the Constitution guaranteed for fugitives could be from any state.
• The Missouri Compromise- this was when slavery started to spread into territories no one had claimed so people against slavery rushed into the new territories to claim it.
• Nat Turner's Rebellion- started a rebellion that killed around sixty white men that led to him and fifty-five others to be tried and executed.
• English settlers in Virginia buying 20 Africans from a Dutch ship.

Manifest Destiny

At the start, America was a small country made up of only 13 small colonies. Over time, it became apparent that America would need to grow. Population was increasing. More people were immigrating to the US, seeing its potential. America needed to expand, and quickly. So, a new idea was created. Manifest Destiny was the idea that American expansion was not only necessary, but morally justified and inevitable. This idea stated that it was right and morally justified for Americans to expand by nearly any means necessary. The rising popularity of this belief led to several important events that would impact the American nation for many years to come.

The first was the Indian Removal Act. As already stated, America needed to expand, but there was one major problem - a group of people - keeping them from doing so. The Native Americans, who had arrived at the Americas first, had been pushed west many times by the ever expanding American population many times before. But, this group of people was still standing in the way of American expansion, so the Indian Removal Act was published. The Indian Removal Act forced all of the Native American tribes to move west of the Mississippi. Some tribes went peacefully. But others didn't, refusing to give up their lands. As a result, they were forced to go west, on a journey that is now known as the Trail of Tears. Over a quarter of the Native Americans that made this journey did not reach their destination alive.

Themes

There are a good bit of dominant themes in American History from 1607 to 1861. I think slavery is a huge theme because it is still talked about today and still brought up. Slavery was a huge problem in history but it also helped us become a better country. Slavery showed us that it was not okay to treat people like animals. Slavery also caused the Civil War which was not good. The north wanted to do away with slavery, but the south wanted to keep slavery so, when Abraham Lincoln was elected as president the south succeeded from the union which led to the Civil War. The second theme I think is important in American History was electing Thomas Jefferson as President. When Thomas Jefferson was n office he managed to drop America's debt almost in half. Which is incredible for someone to do that. He cut down on presidential employees and pressured congress to abolish the direct tax of 1798 to help save money. He also doubled the size of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase. His presidency contributed to the United States of America instead of tearing it down. He cut the debt in half and doubled the size of the United States without adding to the debt. This was an amazing accomplishment for himself and the U.S.

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny is the idea of Americas expanding over the land. Only the land that was expanded on was not empty. Indians were there long before the people that are here today. The Indians were forced to leave their land. I do not know how his could even be considered as fair because their only option was to leave. The idea of manifest destiny was a doctrine explaining that the expansion of the U.S. was inevitable and justified. Now this is very debatable because of what happened to the Indians. Another idea of Manifest Destiny is the exploration and conquering of the expanding culture of the United States. The United States expanding caused traditions to no longer be around for some cultures or even destroyed. Although some will purely say that tradition and culture were just expanded. Which ever you think is true still causes conflict. The point that Indians were forced away from their homes still is brought up. The Indians had no choice but to move or they would be killed.These thoughts are included in the Manifest Destiny theme.

Causes of the Civil War

five issues that contributed to the civil war

• slavery
• "Bleeding Kansas"- a sectional crisis turns into a national crisis
• Abolitionism
• The Dred Scott Decision
• The Underground Railway

Causes of the Civil War and Dominant Themes In American History

1.Missouri Compromise
2. The abolitionists movement
3.Nullification crisis
4. Election of Abraham Lincoln ( anti-slavery)
5. Economic and social differences between the North and the South



There are countless numbers of themes in American History from 1607 to 1861. Two of those would be Manifest Destiny and slavery. I chose these because of the significant role they played in forming the America we know today. The Manifest Destiny was a movement among the American people that involved Americans moving and claiming new land. It was said that it was God's plan for them to take new lands. The reason this is significant, is that this gained the land that makes up half of the U.S today. This gain of land also led to the disagreements over free states and slave states, that would lead to the Civil War. Slavery was the backbone of early America. It was a main source of income. Not everyone agreed on slavery though. These disagreements led to the Missouri Compromise. This compromise required that in order for there to be a slave state there had to be a free state to counterbalance it. This worked okay until the U.S. ran out of land to make separate and equal states. This led to the free and slave states fighting over Kansas. This disagreement among slavery would lead to another important theme in American history, the Civil War. As you can see a lot of these themes are related. Each event in American history from 1607 to 1861 caused a snowball effect and led to the big outcome, America as we know it today.