History of USA



History of USA

Introduction

For the purpose of analyzing the importance of development of United States from 17th to 18th century. The issues of slavery have risen and the resolution of these issues has played part in the development of US Nation. The demand for cotton as an export crop made the economy of the states south of the Mason-Dixon Line (the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland) dependent on the systematic exploitation of humanity. On plantations and farms and in cities and towns, four million black slaves were denied their rights to a family, education and citizenship. Slavery became a political issue during the westward expansion of the United States. In deference to southern interests, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 prohibited the importation of slaves, but protected slavery in the states from federal interference. In the Missouri compromise of 1820, which admitted Maine and the Louisiana Purchase lands (except Missouri) as free and proclaimed all states above latitude 36° 30' as free, a convention of balancing abolitionist and slave-owning interests was established.

Discussion

Slavery was the issue for US nation their attitudes toward slavery were polarized; some demanded complete and immediate elimination, while others saw good economic and racial reasons for its preservation. The issue was made even more disruptive by a number of legislative decisions in the 1850s. The 1850 compromise admitted California as a free state, but took no action to restrain slavery in the other territories ceded by Mexico after the war of 1846-48 (Utah and New Mexico). The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) gave settlers the right to decide whether or not to permit slavery in a new territory, a situation that led to open warfare between rival groups in "bleeding Kansas". Finally a Supreme Court ruling of 1857 - the "Dred Scott" case - declared that neither Congress nor ...