The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
American History to 1865
The era between the first permanent English settlements in North America in the early 1600s and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 is called the Colonial period. America’s desire for independence from Britain led to the Revolutionary War (or American Revolution). The fighting phase of the war lasted from 1775 to the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. The Treaty of Paris (1783) concluded the war, with British recognition of American independence. During the 1780s, the new nation struggled to develop suitable political institutions. In 1787, a convention met in Philadelphia and framed the Constitution, a document designed to provide a stronger central government than that provided by the Articles of Confederation. The states ratified the Constitution in 1788.
Political divisions arose during the presidency of George Washington (1789–1797) between the followers of Alexander Hamilton, called the Federalist party, and those of Thomas Jefferson, known as the Democratic-Republican party. These divisions continued during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809), whose achievements included the Louisiana Purchase (1803), and that of James Madison (1809–1817). The War of 1812 between Britain and the United States severely damaged the Federalist party, which collapsed as a force in national politics. The years 1816 to 1824, called the Era of Good Feeling, were marked by diminishing political divisions.
During the late 1820s and 1830s, political conflict resurfaced as new parties, the Whigs and the Democratic party, clashed over a variety of issues. Although both parties developed national followings during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837), each was vulnerable to disruption between its northern and southern wings over the issue of slavery in the South. Already evident in the struggle over the Missouri Compromise (1820), sectional conflict between the North and the South was sparked anew by the Mexican War (1846–1848) and exploded in the 1850s. During the 1850s, the Whig party collapsed in the North and was replaced by the Republican party, a purely sectional party. The Democratic party split into northern and southern wings in 1860. The election of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, in 1860 provoked the secession of the southern states and led to the outbreak of the Civil War (1861–1865). The war resulted in a victory for the North and in the destruction of slavery as an institution.
