us history textbook

us history textbook

A Comprehensive Overview of United States History

1. Introduction to the Study of US History

An important goal of this timeline is to understand the connection between the past and the present, the links between Americans of one era and those of another, and the relationship between individual choices and historical contexts. Throughout our study, we attempt to appreciate the contributions of diverse racial and ethnic groups, remembering that “all men are created equal.” The task of providing a comprehensive overview of American history is a challenging one. Military, economic, and political developments are not always easy to interpret, and the impact of the lives of the common people is just as often lost. Additionally, our study takes place within a much broader world drama in which Hawthorne’s observation that “families are insulated in their own characters from the outer world that they belong” serves to remind us that many people are not aware of the opportunities and challenges being faced by others who had come to these shores with the hope of improving their lives. We hope that this exploration will help students develop an appreciation of how this journey is not yet over, but rather ongoing and long-lasting. We commit to performing this study with an open mind and a critical attitude that will lead us to consider conflicting interpretations of historical events. By doing so, we contribute to a dynamic process that seeks truth and a clearer vision of the common good.

To study the history of the United States is to embark on a continual conversation with the past. As individuals, we learn where we fit into the story of America by understanding the great achievements as well as the colossal failures of previous Americans. In that never-ending conversation, Americans look to the past to better understand the present. John F. Kennedy helped us understand this when he said, “The study of history is the starting point for political intelligence” in a democratic society. Our shared heritage can inspire hope for the future and provide strength to meet the challenges ahead. Working together within the framework of our constitutional system, we strive to keep alive the dreams of our founding fathers that Americans might live in a world where freedom, justice, and the pursuit of individual happiness are possible every generation to come.

2. Colonial America and the Revolutionary Period

British North America before long controlled developments in the mother country and was one of the chief factors forcing the decision to put an end to French imperial aspirations in North America. This was one of the roots of the American Revolution. In the late 18th century, this other great first of a possible series of new settlements declaring independence could save herself from destruction by a combination of military aid and the controlled use of military resources and come safely through her settlement with the mother country. At the same time, our successive revolutions prevented our original liberalism from lapsing into despotism and allowed the development of further gains instead.

Chiefly, however, the British colonists built that social class below the aristocracy which could be the cornerstone of a liberal order – the middle class – and in a situation in which the growth of the central state was thoroughly hampered, they developed a number of political institutions and principles which allowed the middle class to exercise very considerable independence and initiative even after the coming of industrialization.

In the mountains and primeval forests of large areas of the New World, British settlers built a unique civilization which had almost from the beginning the elements of a modern liberal society. But in some places, people built a more leisurely way of life around large cultivated areas devoted to staple farm crops. When they began to use Negro slave labor, they established the institution of black slavery which was to become a most serious social and constitutional issue.

3. The Early Republic and Westward Expansion

In the decade following the war, the United States increased its population by more than one-third. Encouraged by the removal of the Indian menace, increased agriculture, increased foreign demand for its products, European peace, and, above all, the replacement of the incompetent Articles of Confederation by the federal constitution of Washington and Madison, American industrial capitalism removed the severe obstacles of the first two decades of its nascent existence. The virtual control of land by large landlords had been eliminated by the defeat of the Loyalists in the Revolution, by the abolition of primogeniture, and by the opening to sale of the immense lands of the federal territories. The greater economic potentiality of American agriculture, the downfall of its great commercial rival, France, and America’s growth to political independence lessened the control of Britain and the Netherlands over American business. The Revolutionary foreign loans were repaid and eating up half the revenue; the question of who owed the other half was the most important at the commencement of the commercial colonial war against Britain.

The election of Jefferson marked the first electoral victory by the anti-monarchical party, and it seemed to signify that the nationalistic phase of the Revolutionary movement was over. It indicated that the power of the American state was going to be decentralized, and its central power confined to a narrow field. However, this hope was to be partly falsified. The younger Republicans did fully intend to go back to the ‘free’ federal state of the Revolution, but the ‘laissez-faire’ attitude of the ruling American middle class was, in part, a rationalization of its own economic control. It was to prove only an interlude. The growth of the American population was to increase, the inflow of European ideas of class warfare was to continue, and it was only destined to be submerged in a subsequent stage of American development.

4. The Civil War and Reconstruction Era

The years immediately following the Civil War were occupied with the nation’s reuniting, in a broad sense not only with the defeated South, but also with groups of Americans in the North which had been alienated by the secession movement. Also of major concern was what to do with the defeated South. What should be the postwar status of the people of the South, and of the former Confederate states? The somewhat harsh plans devised by a radical faction in Congress for dealing with the defeated South were constructing the immediate postwar period.

Leaving Union lines, a company of black women and children behind them, Union soldiers destroyed the Confederate gunboats at Gaines Landing, Arkansas, in order to prevent any further pursuit. By pulling down this southern area and burning the town of Eunice, they destroyed the Confederates’ source of supply and ended their ability to harass Union boats and installations.

5. The United States as a Global Power

Convinced that the Soviet Union was committed to the eventual destruction of the marketplace, and believing that any country, however inclined towards socialism, was a possible convert, the U.S. embraced an interventionist and internationalist policy. The Cold War idea was that the U.S. would share the peace with Russia, while living in harmony with capitalism, Britain, and all the upholders of order, prosperity, and free trade. A group of senior diplomats, officials, and experts helped defend U.S. luxury at international conferences and during four U.N. voyages, by solidly exclusive conversations and through openly conspiratorial action. The policymakers believed that the United States had final responsibility, not just for its own prosperity and world order, but for shaping the overall future of humanity.

The U.S. emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation in the world, both militarily and economically. The architects of the postwar world tried both to knit the capitalist economies of the West back together and to reconcile the principle of free enterprise with the obligation of the state to meet social needs. This involved extending all sorts of benefits, including, for the first time, abroad, provided there was some prospect that the economies of Western Europe would be rebuilt. Aid from Europe and Japan – twice as much as all U.S. governmental aid under the Marshall Plan, according to some experts – helped pave the U.S. way towards economic recovery.