The United States’ boundaries have expanded over the centuries—and at the same time, Americans’ ideas about their country have grown as well. The nation the world knows today was shaped by centuries of thinkers and events. In the 1830s, over fifty years after the United States had won its independence from Britain, Americans were still delighted with their young country. That sense of hope and freedom are still a part of the United States today. As you learn about the settlers who rode the Oregon Trail to new land in the West, you will gain a better understanding of how America became America
U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.
The basic framework of the American nation was laid out by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Over the years, these have been amended and reinterpreted, but the central core remains. This title helps to learn about these essential aspects of the United States.
To most people living in the West, the Louisiana Purchase made little difference: the United States was just another imperial overlord to be assessed and manipulated. This was not, as Empires, Nations, and Families makes clear, virgin wilderness discovered by virtuous Anglo entrepreneurs. Rather, the United States was a newcomer in a place already complicated by vying empires. This book documents the broad family associations that crossed national and ethnic lines and that, along with the river systems of the trans-Mississippi West, formed the basis for a global trade in furs that had operated for hundreds of years before the land became part of the United States. ø Empires, Nations, and Families shows how the world of river and maritime trade effectively shifted political power away from military and diplomatic circles into the hands of local people. Tracing family stories from the Canadian North to the Spanish and Mexican borderlands and from the Pacific Coast to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, Anne F. Hyde?s narrative moves from the earliest years of the Indian trade to the Mexican War and the gold rush era. Her work reveals how, in the 1850s, immigrants to these newest regions of the United States violently wrested control from Native and other powers, and how conquest and competing demands for land and resources brought about a volatile frontier culture?not at all the peace and prosperity that the new power had promised.
The United States' boundaries have expanded over the centuries—and at the same time, Americans' ideas about their country have grown as well. The nation the world knows today was shaped by centuries of thinkers and events. The Civil War brought an end to the terrible practice of slavery—but it also left deep wounds across the United States. As you learn more about this war's conflicts, you will gain a better understanding of what makes America the nation it is today.
The United States' boundaries have expanded over the centuries—and at the same time, Americans' ideas about their country have grown as well. The nation the world knows today was shaped by centuries of thinkers and events. Thomas Jefferson was one of the most important of these thinkers. During his presidency, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the geographic size of the United States. And perhaps most important, Jefferson helped define what is best about America.
History is full of many stories. Each group of people has its own stories. No two stories are exactly the same. The Monroe Doctrine—America's policy of intervention in other nations' affairs—has played a major role in the stories the United States has told about itself. This book will tell you another chapter in America's story—and it will also tell you the stories of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines.
By the beginning of the 1800s, America was a young country led by people who were ready to fight to defend American rights on the seas and at home. They were eager to teach Europe's older nations a lesson, and they wanted to add to America's land. America fought the War of 1812 as well as a war in Florida. The US came out of these wars stronger than ever— and the people of the United States were ready for America to grow still bigger.
The United States' boundaries have expanded over the centuries—and at the same time, Americans' ideas about their country have grown as well. The nation the world knows today was shaped by centuries of thinkers and events. Today, the United States of America is the lone super power in the world. The United States is very strong. Power, however, is not the only thing that comes with being a world leader. As a world leader, America also has a lot of responsibility to the rest of the world. In the twentieth century, the United States struggled to balance its power with its responsibility in new ways.
The United States' boundaries have expanded over the centuries—and at the same time, Americans' ideas about their country have grown as well. The nation the world knows today was shaped by centuries of thinkers and events. The people who lived in the Southern colonies were successful and prosperous Americans, with an identity of their own. They helped shape America into the country it is today.
