Why Does Change Spark Conflict? Topic 6 America Looks West American Progress By John Gast

America Looks to the West In 1821, a revolution toppled Spanish rule and established Mexico as an independent republic. The U.S. government officially recognized its fellow republic to the south. But American expansionists, people who favored territorial growth, soon began to covet New Mexico, Texas, and California. Thinly settled but rich in resources, these three provinces seemed ripe for American plucking. US Interactive

“The American claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and….. self government entrusted to us. -John L. O’Sullivan, New York Morning News, December 27, 1845 Expansionist were soon using the term Manifest Destiny to refer to the belief that God wanted the United States to own all of North America. But O’Sullivan envisioned liberty for white men. Expansion would come at the expense of American Indians and Mexicans. Southern expansionists hoped to create more slave states to strengthen their political base.

Gold Rush chart

The Temperance Movement When reformers surveyed American society, they saw a country in desperate need of reform. Ongoing industrialization caused rapid and unsettling changes. Crime, sickness, poverty and neglected families seemed rampant. Many reformers attributed these problems to widespread use of alcohol. In response, reformers launched the temperance movement, an effort to end alcohol abuse and the problems created by it. Temperance means drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation. Some reformers believed in prohibition, or a complete ban on alcohol consumption. Temperance reformers published pamphlets and posters warning that wasting money on liquor prevented people from buying food for their families. Women took on the cause which recruited thousands of members.

The Abolition Movement The period of reform that was sweeping the nation through the mid 1800’s took on another group of exploited people = enslaved African Americans in the South. Resistance-many enslaved people did whatever they could to fight back against their oppressors. Resistance took on many forms. One example = The Underground Railroad By the early 1800’s, a growing number of Americans opposed to slavery began to speak out. Because they wanted slavery abolished, or ended, they began the great reform movement = The Abolition Movement

Women Work for Change chart

The Seneca Falls Convention In 1848, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton helped organize the nation’s first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. The delegates to the convention adopted a Declaration of Sentiments modeled after the language of the Declaration of Independence. While not yielding much in the way of change it marked the beginning of the women’s movement in the U.S. Further inspiration came from two ladies: – Amelia Bloomer- she would become a leading voice for women’s rights. She published a newspaper, The Lily, in which she advocated for women to wear pants instead of dresses. = BLOOMERS – Susan B. Anthony –led the charge for the right of women to vote = suffrage