Many of us walk around in a fog when it comes to American terms and historical references. The media keeps throwing them at us like we’re supposed to know this stuff. So let’s lift some of the mist. The following is a brief synopsis of American history. If you read these pages and watch a few movies, you’ll have it.
Independence
America was initially inhabited by natives, just like Canada, Mexico, and South America. The Mayflower arrived in 1620, around the time of the first African slaves. 41 male passengers from the Mayflower signed an agreement that formed the basis of the colony’s first government. By 1650, there were 50,000 colonial inhabitants.
The American Revolution (the War of Independence) between the British and the 13 colonies (which became the original 13 states) started in 1775 and ended in 1781, when British General Cornwall surrendered to General George Washington. Listed causes of the war include Britain’s imposition of a tax on the colony, and limitations on its commerce and freedoms.
US soldiers were essentially a citizen’s militia (not a formally trained army). Remember, it had been 150 years since the Mayflower landed—the people fighting for America were born there. So it was probably time to spill a little tea and host an uprising.
The 13 colonies, each with their own government, came together (during the war) to sign the Declaration of Independence, primarily written by Virginia representative, Thomas Jefferson. The declaration was signed in 1776, in Philadelphia. It declared the United States to be a free and independent country. It wasn’t until 1783, two years after the war had ended, that Britain formally acknowledged the US. The population at the time was approx. 3 million.
The Constitution
In 1787, the 13 states signed the US Constitution. The US Constitution is the oldest of its kind and originally had seven articles. It was amended in 1791 with ten more articles, commonly known as the Bill of Rights. These amendments include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and the right of people to petition their government (the first amendment), plus the right to bear arms (the second amendment).
In total, the constitution has 27 amendments. The 13th amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery. Five years later, the 15th amendment gave people of any race or colour the right to vote. The 16th amendment, ratified in 1913, permitted the government to tax income. The 18th and 19th amendments, both passed in 1920, prohibited alcohol and gave women the right to vote. The 18th amendment (prohibition) was then later repealed in 1933 (by the 21st amendment). The 26th amendment, passed in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18 from 21.
Acquisitions
In 1803, the United States paid Napoleon France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory (commonly known as the Louisiana Purchase). This area is huge and much bigger than the state of Louisiana. It’s essentially what America today calls the mid-west. Part, or all, of what became 15 states were purchased including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Montana. As a result, the US nearly doubled its size.
In 1812, the US declared war on Britain over British interference with American maritime shipping and westward expansion. The war lasted just over 2 years. The United States suffered many costly defeats at the hands of the British, Canadian, and Native American troops, including the burning of the nation’s capital. But American troops were able to repulse British invasions in New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans. In the end, the British promised to leave Canada’s borders unchanged.
In 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States. In 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. It was then annexed by the US, nine years later (and tons of Mexicans still live there). In 1846, the Oregon Treaty fixed the Canadian border at the 49th parallel. Also in 1846, the US declared war on Mexico. It lasted 2 years. The outcome resulted in the US paying $15 million for the area now known as California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The rest of New Mexico and Arizona were purchased for an additional $10 million in 1853.
The US acquired Alaska from Russia, in 1867, for $7.2 million dollars.
Slavery
The battle over slavery was a huge deal in US history. During the mid-1800s there were slave states (like, South Carolina) and free states (like, California). Abraham Lincoln came into prominence through a series of debates held with Illinois state senate rival, Steven Douglas. When Lincoln was elected president, in 1860, on a platform of emancipation (the abolishment of slavery), 11 states succeeded from the Union to form the Confederacy.
The Civil War, 1861-65, was won by the Union (the north) led by Lincoln and all 11 confederate states rejoined by 1870. During the Civil War, President Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg address. The last act of the war saw the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant. During the war, southerners referred to Union soldiers as Yankees (and southern soldiers were called rebels).
President Lincoln was reelected in 1864 and assassinated by John Wilkes Booth within his first year. 1865 is also the year that brought the 13th amendment to abolish slavery. The 15th amendment, passed in 1870, gave blacks the right to vote.
Jim Crow Laws
In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South. Jim Crow laws legalized discrimination and stayed in effect until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The March on Washington, by over 200,000 people, in 1963 (highlighted by Rev. Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream”) dramatized the movement, which officially ended with the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
The New Deal
Suffering from the effects of the great depression, in 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt brought in the New Deal. It included Unemployment Insurance, bargaining rights for labour, CDIC deposit insurance, regulations for the stock market, and the Social Security Act, which introduced public pensions (Canada didn’t bring in public pensions until 1965).
Three years later, Roosevelt brought in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which introduced the first minimum wage, the forty-hour work week, time-and-a-half for overtime, and prohibited child labor. These acts permanently changed the federal government’s relationship to the US populace.
Closing
If you’d like more details on topics like the battles of Bunker Hill and Valley Forge, France’s involvement in the War of Independence (through its navy), or the land seized by the British from the Dutch and renamed from New Amsterdam to New York, check Wikipedia or other sources on the web.
HBO has a wonderful seven-part mini-series called, John Adams, co-produced by Tom Hanks. It’s named after one of the founding fathers and America’s second president. It brings to life characters like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. There is also a movie called, Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis; C-SPAN has produced a reenactment of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates; and, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, is a seven-part documentary, released in 2014, that covers the lives of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt (his cousin), and Eleanor Roosevelt (the influential first lady).