The Antebellum Period Essay

In Andrew Jackson’s time, there was a great deal of cultural and political phenomena that made his populist agenda relevant to the people of the United States. For example, one of the prominent concerns among Americans during Jackson’s era was the rampant corruption which had become prominent throughout the Monroe administration. Indeed, during the 1824 election the issue of corruption was of prominent concern, and Jackson’s engagement with the issue helped achieve him a plurality of electoral votes. However, Jackson’s electoral victory was dismissed when the House of Representatives came together to elect John Quincy Adams in a contingent election. The dismissal of Jackson’s victory at the whim of the political establishment seemed to prove Jackson’s and the country’s concerns over the corrupt political elite undermining the interests of the people.

This election is a captivating object of my fascination indeed. We are faced with the possibilities of two different paths, a sort of two-forked river of our future as a nation. On one hand, we have a future full of economic collapse, moral decay, monarchical government and political unrest, on the other, lies a brighter future, a more American future. Andrew Jackson is the right choice, and is far more deserving of the commander-in-chief position than his utter failure of an opponent, who hath failed us enough already. We the American people are sickened by Quincy's leadership, and we demand a dramatic change.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s childhood and early years in ministry led to his involvement in the Antebellum Reform. Born in May of 1803, he was the son of a well-known Boston minister, William Emerson, and his wife Ruth. However, when Emerson was almost nine, his father died. Emerson grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and received his education from the Boston Public Latin School. He was accepted into the Harvard Divinity School at the age of fourteen.

The era of Andrew Jackson which was nicknames the era of the “common man” certainly lived up to its name. As the seventh President of the United States, Jackson had a major effect on the life of the common man, in such a way that the life of the common man would never be the same again. Jackson’s aim, after the manner in which he was defeated in the Presidential Election of 1824, despite receiving more popular votes than John Quincy Adams who took on the office, was to reduce the power and the authority of the elite. When he came into power after the 1828 election Jackson began to carry out his proposals. Jackson expanded the voting right to all men, in accordance with the Declaration of Independence of 1776 which declared that “all men are created equal” instead of just the elite.

In his Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass describes in vivid detail his experiences of being a slave. In his novel Douglass talks about what it was like to move from location to location and what it was like to work long, hard hours with less than substantial sustenance. Eventually he escapes the clutches of slavery but not before he endured beatings, forced hard labor and emotional mistreatment. During his time as a slave he was tasked with various kinds of work and after he became free he worked as a speaker who advocated for abolition of slavery.

Gilded age Gilded age coastline has been losing its wetlands at a rate of 16.57 square miles a year during the past 25 years, equal to the loss of a football field of coast every hour. This loss of wetlands is due to pollution, deforestation, and erosion. The loss has caused has caused loss of biodiversity. Louisiana has lost 1900 years ago of land because of pollution from landfills, factory waste, and erosion.

During the pre-civil war time period— also known as the antebellum years— America experienced a widespread transformation for the sake of its economy. With the booming belief of the Manifest Destiny, America’s constant desire for westward expansion caused disputes between the North and the South regarding the establishment of free states and slave states, which led to certain compromises such as the Missouri Compromise. After the Market Revolution, the North and South used its new gained land to create different means of economic gains; the North became industrialized through manufacturing, while the South became an agricultural industry dependent on cotton. However, as America’s boundaries expanded, tensions between the North and South grew, often leading to compromises in bloodshed. The drastic differences between the two groups eventually transformed America into a divided nation of sectionalism economically, politically, and socially.

There were many major movements and goals of the antebellum reform. Before the Civil War, almost 100 reform communities were instituted. Some were democratic, others were ruled over by an interesting leader. Most of them were motivated by religion, but some had desires to reverse social and economic changes. Almost all of these communities wanted to have a cooperative society, to revive social harmony in an individualistic society and to close the growing space between the rich and the poor.

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.

Slavery began long before the colonization of North America. This was an issue in ancient Egypt, as well as other times and places throughout history. In discussing the evolution of African slavery from its origins, the resistance and abolitionist efforts through the start of the Civil War, it is found to have resulted in many conflicts within our nation. In 1619, the first Africans in America arrived in Jamestown on a Dutch ship.

He showed unifying leadership during the Nullification Crisis and the Tariff laws of 1828 and 1832, he showed a generous approach of governing through the “Kitchen Cabinet” and the “Spoils System”. Lastly, his concern for economic equality was shown through the veto of the Second Bank of the United States Recharter and his concerns for the common men. All of these qualities that Jackson had shown during his presidency are why Andrew Jackson should be remembered as a hero of the common

In early America, the first successful colony was called the Jamestown Colony. It took a while for this new country to fill up, though. This was because, in the beginning, many people died from disease, starvation, and Native American attacks. Many people in the early Jamestown Colony died from a disease. “Summer sickness kills half the colonists” (J. Frederick Fausz, “An Abundance of Bloodshed on Both Sides: England’s First Indian War 1609-1614,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, January 1990).

The Jacksonian Era was the time period of Andrew Jackson’s presidency. This began in 1828 when Jackson was elected president. The era is sometimes described as a time when the United States experienced the “democratization of politics.” In a democracy every citizen has an equal say in the government's decisions and actions. Some people of this time period believed that Jackson is notable for democratizing the United States during the Jacksonian Era.

In colonial America, the citizens did not know exactly what they wanted for their government. The colonists knew they didn’t want their lives to be like they had been in England. They were open to ideas; they did not know what would work and what wouldn’t. The colonists knew that trial and error was the best idea at the time. The democratic and undemocratic features of colonial America were very apparent in that democracy as it was a work in progress.