American History

Virginia Company refers to a pair of English joint stock companies, which were collectively chartered by James I on April 1606 for purposes of settlement establishment on the coast of North America. The companies; “Virginia Company of London” (or the London Company) and the “Virginia Company of Plymouth” (or Plymouth Company) operated under identical charters but in different territories. Its significance comes online that after its disbandment, Virginia Royal colony was created (Wesley, 1957).

“City on a hill” is a term that was invoked by English-born Puritan leader John Winthrop. The concept has a key significance to the Americans as they perceive their nation as an exceptional and exemplary nation in its socio-political setup and culture (Amos, Houk, 1991).

People from England colonized both the New England and the Chesapeake regions. These people were seeking a new and better life. Through the hardships of the settlement, each region grew to create two distinct societies. The differences arose from the contrasting backgrounds, motives of the people and the distinct styles of the political organization formed by each group. Today Americans are of different social-economic and politically setups (Anderson, 1991).

First Great Awakening can be described as a religious revitalization movement that swept the world. This movement greatly affected the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It was from powerful preaching that made listeners gain a sense of personal guilt and Christ saved them. Through this, Great Awakening many people turned away from ritual and ceremony and gained personal morality. In addition, it enabled spread of Christianity to amongst the African slaves.

On the other hand, Second Great Awakening is described as a Christian religious revival movement in the United States, in early 19^th century. It expressed Armenian theology. Every person could be saved through revivals. Its major impact was enrollment of millions of new converts and formation of new denominations (George, 1976).

The concept of strict and broad construction was experienced in the period; 1801-1817 among the Republicans and Federalists. The Republicans believed in interpreting the constitution strictly, where the Congress defined the constitution or the President word for word, while the Federalist Party held that, Congress or the President had the right to interpret the constitution based on connotation. This was pure broad constructionists’ opinion. The Republicans’ strict believe led to strong popularity and adherence to the Republican Party. They both found the need to follow the Republican path when stepping up to power as President (Paul, 1984)

On the same note, the aforementioned parties formed the first party system which began in 1792- 1824.The Federalist party formed by Alexander Hamilton was dominant up to 1800, while the Republican, created by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison was dominant after 1800.This two parties confined its supporters two factions; the business community and the farmers. On the other hand, the Second Party System is the period from about 1828 to 1854. This system significantly shaped the Jacksonian Era’s social, economic political and cultural currents (Rodger, 1979).

The concept of “Republican Motherhood” try to bring out the role related to women’ as mothers in the emerging United States before, during, and after the American Revolution. It focused on the belief that children should be raised to uphold the ideals of republicanism. This made them ideal citizens of the new America. Republican motherhood meant important roles for women. This included civic duty and education. The Republican Party was used since it was the popular party and second largest. This resulted in increased educational opportunities for American women. Moreover, women with initiative and independence was produced (Michael, 1999)

Americans today often think of thrift as a negative value that led to miserly through hoarding of resources and denial of pleasure. But Franklin’s Thrift challenges this state of mind by recovering the rich history of thrift as a quintessentially American virtue. This virtue meant working productively, consuming wisely, saving proportionally, and giving generously. This virtue significantly contributed to the formation of social movements that promoted children’s school savings, created mutual savings banks and credit unions for working men and women. Also, a federal savings bond program was established, that galvanized the nation to conserve resources during two world wars (John, 1982)

Better communication networks, industrial inventions and transport systems were created, due to the large size of the United States. This promoted efficient movement of people, raw materials and trade goods. Moreover, it led to the creation of new industries. This process is called industrial revolution in America, which led to tremendous growth in the nation.

Indian removal was a policy of the United States government in the 19^th century. It was meant to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river. This act pronounced the element of racism since the Indians were segregated from the white Americans (Robert, Jackson, 2001).

Nullification is the formal suspension by a state of a federal law within its borders. A high duty was advocated on all goods, which could unquestionably be produced in sufficient quantity in the nullification crisis of 1832. The tariff bill of 1816 was a sort of compromise between the conflicting interests. This principle, however, led to the eventual secession of Southern states and the formation of the Confederacy.

The Second Bank of the United States was created after the First Bank of the United States. The legality of the Bank was upheld in the U.S. Supreme Court case. The bank was to provide a way on how the government handled its financial affairs. Today the bank building is included as one of the main structures in Independence National Historical Park in downtown (Payne, 1959).

United States presidential election of 1840 were unique as President Martin Van Buren fight for re-election against an economic depression and a Whig Party unified for the first time behind war hero Harrison. The Whigs easily defeated Van Buren. It is significant as it saw, the Whigs for the first time in their history, hold a national convention to determine their presidential candidate (John, 1982).

The cult of domesticity demonstrates the new ideal of womanhood and a new ideology about the home arose out of the new attitudes about work and family. The new ideal provided a new perception of women’s duty and role while interlocking the cardinal virtues of true womanhood for a new age (Sztaray, 1982).

Reform movements refer to rebellion that is aimed at changing the status quo of some political, constitutional, social and economical affairs. Deep-rooted corrupt governments leveled up the reforms in the United States. This led to movements like the modern campaign finance reform movement. These reforms acted as a watchdog for dishonest and corrupt regimes, hence they facilitated accountability (Leon, 1961).

Seneca Falls is a place in New York, which is well known for holding the most famous, and influential convention, which was later called “The Seneca Falls Convention” This convention, is significant as it marked the genesis of the women’s movement in America (H.Sisters, 2005).

Rough and tumble refers to the physical confrontation. It was common in the early days when problems were settled through fighting. However, it is slowly evolving into the art of dueling with pistols. The killing of former Secretary of Treasury In 1804, by the Vice-President of the United States in a duel marked the most infamous duel, which has remained significant in the American history.

Yeomen were non-slaveholding, small landowning, family farmers. In the United States, they were identified in the 18th and 19th centuries in Southern areas where land was poor. They were typically subsistence farmers. The Yeomen’s significance revolves around Jeffersonian Democracy as its political force was largely built on it (Yeoman, 2009).

Domestic slave trade or Second Middle passage refers to the slavery in the South after the founding of the United States in 1776 led to the end of slavery in the North. In the south, most slaves were engaged in a work-gang system of agriculture on large plantations (Leon, 1961).

The Southampton Insurrection or the Nat Turner’s Rebellion was a rebellion by slaves that took place in Southampton County, Virginia during August 1831.It was led by Nat Turner. Rebel slaves were killed together with the people. This rebellion facilitated fair treatment of slaves by the white counterparts (Leon, 1961).

Gang labor system is where prisoners were chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work. Such punishment might include building roads, digging ditches. It contributed to tremendous growth, since this labor was freely obtained. Such conditions led to slave rebellion. This was an armed uprising by slaves. The most feared events for slaveholders in the history was led by the Roman slave Spartacus; the thrall Tunni who rebelled against the Swedish monarch. This rebellions increased freedom for slaves (Mitchel, 2006)

Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States ethnically was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic. This encouraged the war with Mexico in 1840, this broadened enmity .Annexation or acquiring was also promoted. Texas City was annexed because it was American’s manifest to expand the continent. The concept of Manifest destiny continues to have influence on the American political ideology (John, 1982).

Kansas-Nebraska Act stated that the residents of each territory would decide slavery. This concept was later known as popular sovereignty. It led to violence in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers, hence a Civil War. It is during this time in point the American Agency started gaining fame. This was due to its intelligence, which assured national security (Nicole, 2004).

The Know Nothing was a political movement by Native Americans during the 1840s and 1850s. It was perpetuated by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants. It led to a formation of Native American Party.

Secession refers to withdrawal of 11 slave states (states in which slaveholding was legal) from the Union during 1860-6. This came at the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. Secession precipitated the American Civil War. The civil army was voluntarily drawn from each state. This was a war between Confederacy and the union. This war is majorly characterized by the march to the sea, which was led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. It resulted in more states abolishing slavery. In addition, the Emancipation Proclamation (executive direction) issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the War ended slavery in the south (Ewan, 2005).

Gettysburg is a town in Pennsylvania where American Civil war army was buried in a national cemetery. It is significant since this is where President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the best-known speeches in the United States history. The civil war caused a major disturbance (draft riot) in New York City, which lasted for four days. It was widely waged by the working class, who opposed new laws passed by Congress to draft men for the Civil war (Gibor, 2006).