University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Railroad Towns
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the railroad towns that were established by the railroad companies along their routes, and had a reputation for shoddiness and disreputable...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Towns Shapes
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the town layouts that were commonplace for railroad towns.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Town of Pullman
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes how George Pullman amassed a fortune making specialized rail cars. He then decided to build a town for his labor force, one that was very...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Strikes of 1877
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the widespread strikes by railroad workers in 1877.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Workingmen's Party
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the emergence of the Workingmen's Party as a political force in St. Louis, its role in the railroad strikes of 1877, and how it may have...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Pullman Boycott
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section provides a good description of the events of 1893-1894, including the reasons for the boycott of Pullman cars, the people involved, and how the...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Federal Intervention in Pullman
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes President Grover Cleveland's role in sending federal troops to suppress the Pullman boycott, resulting in increased chaos from the...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Philosophy and Literature: Quest for Nationalism
Describes the struggle of Americans to develop a unified sense of national identity in the 1800s.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Philosophy and Literature: Intellectual Climate
Discusses the intellectual atmosphere in the 1800s as America struggled to find its identity. The influences of the Enlightenment and Romanticism are described, and the ideas of various writers and philosophers.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Philosophy and Literature: Two Philosophies
Explains what the 'Scottish philosophy' was and how well it fitted with American sensibilities in the 1800s. Over time it evolved into the American philosophy of Pragmatism. The other philosophy that took hold in some groups of society...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Philosophy and Literature: History and Literature
Discusses the state of literature and written history in the 1800s as they related to the development of a national identity, and the role Romanticism played. With the passage of time, more serious literature emerged and authors began to...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Andrew Jackson and the Bankwar: Old Hickory
Discusses Andrew Jackson's personality and the difficulties and conflicts he experienced prior to his inauguration as President. While in the Senate, he took measures to try to improve his public image.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Andrew Jackson and the Bankwar: The Investigation
Discusses the investigation that Andrew Jackson launched into the Second Bank of the United States after suggestions that it was meddling in politics, and Nicholas Biddle's response. Jackson took the issue to Congress, asking them to...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Andrew Jackson and the Bankwar: Election of 1832
Discusses the political maneuverings that went on behind the scenes during the election campaign of 1832 leading to the nomination of Van Buren as Vice-President, and postponing movement on the Bank war. When the issue of the nomination...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Andrew Jackson and Bankwar: Removal of Deposits
After the re-election of Andrew Jackson in 1832, he began the process of having government deposits removed from the Second Bank.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Anglo Amer. Colonization in Texas: Texas 1821 1836
Describes the clash of cultures among the different groups living in Texas between 1821 and 1836, in the lead-up to Texas independence.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Manifest Destiny: Philosophy That Created a Nation
A discussion of how Manifest Destiny became a philosophy that justified and fueled Americans' ideas about expansion and annexation of new territories.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Manifest Destiny: Components of Manifest Destiny
A discussion of the ideas that fueled Americans' belief in Manifest Destiny, including religious conviction and a sense of mission that they needed to dominate the land from coast to coast. This led to the drive to displace Native...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Manifest Destiny: Many Shades of Manifest Destiny
A discussion of the other guises of Manifest Destiny, including imperialism, yellow journalism, the idea of the white man's burden, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Roosevelt Corollary.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Black Lost Cause:critical Analysis of Examples
Discusses the research by historians to try to determine the extent to which African Americans fought for the Confederate cause. They examined letters, service records, anecdotes, photographs, pension records, etc. but were unable to say...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Black Lost Cause: Elaboration
Explains how the idea of African Americans fighting in large numbers for the Confederate cause is a wrong one that has been propagated by untrained historians who used unreliable sources.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The First Europeans
The first Europeans to arrive in North America -- at least the first for whom there is solid evidence -- were Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Early Settlements
The early 1600s saw the beginning of a great tide of emigration from Europe to North America. Spanning more than three centuries, this movement grew from a trickle of a few hundred English colonists to a flood of millions of newcomers....
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Massachusetts
During the religious upheavals of the 16th century, a body of men and women called Puritans sought to reform the Established Church of England from within. Essentially, they demanded that the rituals and structures associated with Roman...