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11: The Early Republic

  • Page ID
    7939
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    Learning Outcomes

    After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

    • Explain why Jefferson’s first term was such a success and his second was such a failure.
    • Understand the causes of the War of 1812.
    • Explain the forces that produced the market revolution in the United States.

    The United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century was a young nation searching for its place in the world. Federalist domination of government was over, as Thomas Jefferson and his new party, the Republicans, came into power. They believed in a limited Federal government with more control in the hands of the states and the people. However, events would demonstrate the need for balance between the two differing visions of how the U. S. should be governed. During his presidency, Jefferson, and then James Madison, faced the challenge of trying to protect the country from the fallout of the Napoleonic Wars. Although the U. S. was not directly involved, Americans often felt the impact of the battling European giants. These difficulties would lead into another war.

    The War of 1812 helped the United States gain international respect as well as launch the political career of Andrew Jackson. Jackson was a victor in the war; the Federalist Party and the Indians were not so fortunate. As America grew across the continent, the Indians were increasingly in the way of the expansion with nowhere to go. The war and the events leading up to it drastically altered the U.S. economy from one depending on imports and exports to one focused here at home in the Market Revolution. The Cotton Revolution would be a great step in the industrialization of New England and a major change in the way goods were manufactured in America.


    This page titled 11: The Early Republic is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Catherine Locks, Sarah Mergel, Pamela Roseman, Tamara Spike & Marie Lasseter (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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