*A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE **USA* **** *By Tim Lambert* *http://www.localhistories.org/america.html* **
*THE INDIAN WARS* As the USA expanded westward there were many wars with the Indians. In 1790 Chief Little Turtle of the Miami defeated an American force under Josiah Harmar. The next year the Americans were defeated again. However in 1794 American troops decisively defeated the natives at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. By the treaty of Greenville, 1795, the natives were forced to cede most of Ohio to the Americans. During the war of 1812 some natives sided with the British. The Creeks won a battle against the Americans at Fort Sims in 1812. However troops led by Andrew Jackson defeated the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend in 1814. The Treaty of Fort Jackson forced the Creeks to cede more than half their land to the Americans. (It later became the state of Alabama). *Andrew Jackson later became President and in 1830 he signed the Indian Removal Bill which forced Indians east of the **Mississippi River** to move to **Oklahoma**. The Choctaws were forced to move in 1832. They were followed by the Creeks in 1835 and the Chickasaw in 1837. The Cherokee**'**s were forced to move in 1838-39. (So many of them died on the trail it was called the **'**Trail of Tears**'**. However one tribe, the Seminoles of ** Florida**, resisted deportation. In the years 1835-1842 they fought a guerrilla war against the Americans. This was the Second Seminole War. However in 1837 their leader, Osceola, was captured. Most of the Seminoles eventually surrendered and were forced to move to **Oklahoma** but several hundred escaped and fought another war in 1855-1858. This was the Third Seminole War. In the 1850s the **USA** also fought wars with the natives of the Northeast. The natives were defeated in the **Rogue River** War of 1855-56 and the **Yakima** War of 1855-58. Afterwards they were forced onto reservations.* ** *THE **USA** IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY* The USA continued to grow rapidly and by 1860 its population was 31 million. New states were added. Iowa was added to the union in 1846. Wisconsin followed in 1848 and Kansas was admitted in 1861. However the rapidly growing nation was torn apart by the issue of slavery. *When the constitution was written in 1787 many people hoped that slavery would die out of its own accord. However Eli Whitney**'**s invention of the cotton gin in 1793 gave slavery a new importance in the southern states. In the northern states slavery was gradually abolished and the **USA** became divided into **'**free states**'** and **'**slave states**'**.* ** *THE **MISSOURI** COMPROMISE* In 1803 the USA bought land from France. This was known as the Mississippi purchase. In 1819 part of the territory asked to be admitted to the union as a state in which slavery was allowed. However at that time the USA was evenly divided between free states and slave states. Another slave state would upset the balance. Furthermore northerners feared that more slave states would be created in future. Representative James Tallmade of New York proposed an amendment, which would have ended slavery in Missouri. However it did not become law. *A row occurred between northerners who believed that Congress had the power to ban slavery in new states and southerners who believed that new states had the right to allow slavery if they wished. Eventually an agreement was reached. **Missouri** was admitted as a slave state but at the same time part of **Massachusetts** became the state of **Maine** so the balance of slave and free was preserved. Furthermore a line was drawn across the continent. States north of it were to be free, south of it they were to be slave. However the **Missouri** compromise was only a temporary solution. Gaining new territory from **Mexico** created new tensions. In 1846 a man named David Wilmot introduced the Wilmot proviso, which stated that slavery should not be allowed in any territory taken from **Mexico**. It was added as an amendment to bills but was never passed by Congress. Nevertheless the Wilmot Proviso alienated the south.* ** *THE COMPROMISE OF 1850* Eventually a compromise was reached. The Compromise of 1850 stated that the territories of New Mexico and Utah could decide for themselves whether they wished to allow slavery or not when they applied to become states. A fugitive slave law was also passed which said that slaves who ran away to the north should be returned to their masters. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 organised the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It also ended the Missouri Compromise. The compromise drew a line across the continent and banned slavery north of it. Although Kansas and Nebraska were north of the line the Act allowed them to choose whether to permit slavery or not when they applied to become states. *In **Kansas** supporters and opponents of slavery came to blows in a series of violent incidents called **'**Bleeding **Kansas**'. Feeling against slavery in the north was strengthened by Harriet Beecher Stowe**'**s novel Uncle Tom**'**s Cabin, which was published in 1852. In the Dred-Scott case of 1857 the southern-dominated Supreme Court decided that slaves were not and never could be US citizens. It also declared the 1820 **Missouri**Compromise unconstitutional. The case enraged public opinion in the north. * ** The civil war was not caused just by the question of slavery. North and south were also divided over tariffs. The northern states began to industrialise in the early 19th century. By the middle of the century the north was becoming an industrial, urban society. Northerners wanted tariffs to protect their industries. However the south remained an agricultural society. Its economy was based on plantations worked by slaves. Southerners objected to tariffs because they bought goods from the north or from Europe and tariffs made them more expensive. North and south were quite different economically and culturally. *THE OUTBREAK OF CIVIL WAR* *The civil war was finally provoked by the election of Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 as president. **Lincoln** did not believe he had the power to abolish slavery in states where it already existed. However he firmly opposed the expansion of slavery into territories of the **USA**, which were likely to become states in future. His policy meant that in future **free states** would outnumber slave ones. As a result of his election **South Carolina** ceded from the union on **20 December 1860**. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, **Louisiana** and **Texas** followed it early in 1861. Together they formed the Confederate States of **America** on **4 February 1861**. Jefferson Davis(1808-1889) became the President.* ** Fighting began on 12 April 1861. Fort Sumter was a unionist stronghold under Major Robert Anderson. On 12 April the Confederate General Beauregard ordered the unionists to evacuate the fort. The unionists rejected his terms and that day southern artillery bombarded the fort. Fort Sumter was forced to surrender the next day but the unionist soldiers were allowed to retreat to the north. Afterwards both sides began arming for war. *Following **Fort Sumter** **Arkansas** ceded from the union on **6 May 1861 **. It was followed by **Tennessee** and **North Carolina**. However the south was easily outmatched by the north. In the south there were only 5 1/2 million whites and over 3 1/2 million slaves. The north outnumbered the south 4 to 1 in men of military age. Furthermore while the north had begun to industrialise the south remained an agricultural society. About 90% of manufacturing industry was in the north of 2/3 of US railroads. Furthermore the south suffered from disunity. Since they were firm believers in statesrights the confederate states could not form a firmly united federation. Despite these disadvantages the south won some early victories.* ** *THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR* In July 1861 General Beauregard was in charge of 22,000 confederate troops an Manassas Junction by the Bull Run River. General McDowell marched south with over 30,000 unionist soldiers. They attacked the confederates on 21 July 1861. However they were held in check by troops led by Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson. Eventually the unionists retreated. However in the west the unionists won a significant victory at Shiloh on 6-7 April 1862. On the first day the confederates had some success but they were unable to drive the unionists off the field completely. Unionist reinforcements arrived that night and on 7 April the confederates were forced to retreat with heavy losses. In Louisiana unionists captured New Orleans on 25 April and Baton Rouge on 12 May In April 1862 the Army of the Potomac, led by General McClellan began the Peninsular Campaign. They captured Yorktown on 4 May 1862. By late May McClellan reached the outskirts of Richmond. However in late June 1862 General Robert E. Lee attacked and fought a series of battles called 'The Seven Days'. McClellan was forced to retreat. In August 1862 the two armies clashed at a battle known as Second Bull Run or Second Manassas. It was a decisive southern victory and the northern army retreated. Lee invaded the north and the two armies fought at Antietam. Lee was forced to retreat into Virginia. However the unionists were severely defeated at Fredericksburg on 13 December 1862. Robert E. Lee won another brilliant victory at Chancellorsville in May 1863. *Lee invaded the north again in June 1863. The turning point of the war was at **Gettysburg** in July 1863. The two armies clashed on 1-3 July. At first the confederates had some success. Eventually, however, they were forced to retreat with heavy losses. The south also suffered defeat at **Vicksburg**on the **Mississippi**. General Grant laid siege to the town and captured it on **4 July 1863**. From the middle of 1863 the south**'**s fortunes gradually waned. In November the south suffered another defeat at **Chattanooga**.* ** In May 1864 both sides suffered heavy losses at the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia. The unionists were unable to capture Petersburg or Richmond for many months. Meanwhile, after Chattanooga, General Sherman began to advance through Georgia towards the sea. His army entered Atlanta on 3 September 1864. On 21 December 1861 Sherman's troops captured Savannah on the coast. The confederacy was cut in half. Then, in February 1865, Sherman headed north into South Carolina. He captured Columbia on 19 February 1865. Then he pressed on into North Carolina. *Further north Robert E. Lee faced increasing pressure from Grant**'**s forces in **Virginia**. On **2 April 1864** the confederates abandoned ** Petersburg** and **Richmond**. Finally on **9 April 1865** Lee surrendered to Grant at **Appotomax Court** House. That was effectively the end of the civil war. The rest of the confederate forces surrendered soon afterwards. * *Johnston** surrendered to **Sherman** on 18 April and the last confederate army surrendered on **26 May 1865**.* ** However Lincoln did not live to see the end of the war. John Wilkes Booth assassinated him on 15 April 1865. Lincoln was watching a play in Ford's Theater when Booth shot him in the head. Andrew Johnson took his place. *THE END OF SLAVERY* *At first **Lincoln** was reluctant to abolish slavery in the south. However he eventually changed his mind. On **23 September 1862** he made the Emancipation Proclamation. Slaves would be made free in any states still in rebellion on **1 January 1863**. However this only applied to areas occupied by the unionist army after that date it did not apply to areas already under unionist control. However the proclamation was followed by the 13th amendment, which banned slavery. It was ratified by December 1865.* ** *RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH* *Johnson appointed provincial governors for the former confederate states. In each of them a constitutional convention was elected to draw up a new constitution. However although they were forced to accept the end of slavery southern governments drew up **'**black codes**'** which restricted black peoples rights, such as depriving them of the right to vote or to sit on juries. Southern whites were completely unwilling to accept the former slaves as equals.* ** *Johnson was unwilling to force the south to change. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act 1866. It stated that all people born in the **USA** were now citizens regardless of race, color or previous condition (i.e. if they were former slaves). Johnson vetoed the act but congress overrode his presidential veto. Johnson's refusal to take firm action against the south alienated Congress. They passed the first Reconstruction Act in 1867. (It was followed by other acts). The southern governments were removed from power and the former confederate states were placed under military rule again. They were forced to allow black men the right to vote.* ** *However the southern states were gradually re-admitted to the union and allowed to send senators and representatives to Congress again. In 1875 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. By it all people regardless of race, color or previous condition, were entitled to full and equal treatment in ** '**inns, public conveyances on land or water, theatres and other places of public amusement**'**. However in 1883 the Supreme Court decided the Act was unconstitutional.* ** *When Rutherford Hayes was inaugurated as President in 1877 he withdrew troops from the south. The former confederate states were then left to go their own way without any interference from the north. In the south white people re-asserted their rule and black people were forced to become subservient. Between 1890 and 1908 black people were deprived of the right to vote in all the former confederate states. Furthermore in 1866-1867 the Ku Klux Klan was formed to terrorise black people. They played an important role in restoring white rule by scaring black people into not voting.*
