Article of confederation.
This refers to a document that contained the agreement terms under which the US’s original states agreed to form a central government.
Bill of Rights
This specifies the various rights of US citizens regarding how they relate with their government. It consists of the opening ten amendments to the American constitution.
Manifest Destiny
This is a phrase coined to express the belief that it is God’s will and wish that white Americans have the right to possess and spread throughout the North American continent.
The Article of Confederation was drawn during the Revolutionary War. As the US gained became free of the English colonizers, it consisted of thirteen separate states. The thirteen states feared a central government because Americans had witnessed its oppression during colonization. For this reason, all the thirteen states had their independent constitutions. At the end of the Revolutionary War, there was a need for a government of American people, yet there was no unitary constitution; hence the Confederation Article was written to outline the terms of association for the thirteen states. The confederation article is essential in understanding the US history as it served as the first draft constitution of a central government.
The Bill of Rights is essential in understanding the US history. As the writing of the constitution was largely driven by two debating parties, the federalists and the anti-federalists. The federalists were keen to come up with a strong federal government that observed very few individual rights. Thus, the original constitution only had amorphous articles regarding individual rights. Fearing that the federal government could abuse this by stepping on individual liberties, anti-federalists opposed the document, insisting that individual rights be specifically listed in the constitution. This led James Madison to propose various individual rights, which were debated upon by the two parties to develop the ten amendments finally. Bill of Rights is essential in American history as it is a manifestation of efforts to secure people’s liberties.
Manifest Destiny was a term devised by John L. Sullivan, a newspaper editor, in an essay. He complained about European interference in US affairs, especially the US’s desire for territorial expansion. The term is essential in US history as it served as a rallying cry for the country to continue its aggression towards acquiring new territories and establish its greatness despite opposition from within and without the country.
Compare the Federalist and Anti-federalist positions on the ratification of the US Constitution.
After the Revolution War, the American people were torn between coming up with a central government and governing themselves in separate states. The federalists refer to the party that pushed for a strong national government. Simultaneously, the anti-federalists opposed this form of government, preferring the centers of government to remain with local governments and states. The two parties took different positions regarding some matters.
The first issue regards fiscal and monetary policy. On this issue, the federalists were in favor of centralized financial policies and banking. According to them, this would strengthen the country economically as the country would easily plan and develop economic policies that would develop the country as a whole. Conversely, the anti-federalists wanted independence in managing their funds and spending it as they preferred. Their fears were born out of the oppression they had undergone during colonization, where the English had overtaxed and exploited them.
The second matter was regarding the constitution. The federalists wanted a strong central government and thus deemed the inclusion of the Bill of rights unnecessary. According to them, there was no need to state individuals’ specific rights to be listed in the constitution. In any case, they observed that this Bill’s addition could be done in a later amendment of the constitution. On the contrary, the anti-federalists pushed for the inclusion of the Bill of rights in the constitution. They felt that failure to do this would deny the American people of their liberties. They insisted that this oversight could be capitalized by the state to oppress its people in the future.
The Causes and Effects of the Mexican-American War
The US and Mexico were involved in a dispute that led to many ramifications. The dispute that began in 1845 was due to various reasons.
Firstly, the war was a result of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was an American belief in the 19th century that it was white Americans’ God-ordained right to expand and conquer the North American continent. As a result, the US had a burning desire to expand its territory from ocean to ocean. Many believed in Manifest Destiny ideology that James K. Polk ran his campaign on the expansionist platform to be elected American president. When he won the election, he pushed for Texas’s annexing, leading to a clash with the Mexicans.
Secondly, the war was a result of Texas annexation. Even before the annexation of Texas, the previous presidents like Martin Van Buren and Andrew Jackson had foregone the annexation because they knew it would lead to war. On top of this, Mexico had already warned the US that this would result if Texas were annexed. Despite all these, Americans still desired to expand their territory, and it is no wonder that James K. Polk campaigned on this strategy and won. Upon winning, the president offered to buy Mexico for thirty million US dollars. Mexico turned down the offer, which led to the war.
There are various effects of the war between Mexico and the US. Firstly, the US gained additional land, while a huge part of Mexico was reduced. As a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the US managed to secure additional land to its territory to present New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, California, Arizonan Nevada, and Wyoming. The acquisition of this land reduced Mexico’s territorial land by half.
Additionally, the war threatened to throw congress into favoring slavery. At the time, slavery was a hot topic. Since the US ended up securing Texas, which at the time supported slavery. The result was negative since this could have easily meant more years of slavery in the world.