Sample Essay On What Were The Major Historical Consequences Of The War Of 1812?

Discuss and analyze the role of the Founding Fathers in constructing the US Constitution.

The Constitution of the US, the main document of the country, is based on thoughts and ideas of many people, and a couple of documents, such as Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. Those politicians, and social leaders, who made tremendous noetic contributions to the process of formation of the Constitution are named «The Founding Fathers» of America.
There are no doubts, that the role the Founding Fathers in constructing the US Constitution cannot be exaggerated — they were the people who wrote the Constitution, and if it was not for them, no one knows where America would be now. All the aspects, that were initially included to the documents were offered, discussed, voted for or against by the so called Founding Fathers, what makes them the creators of the American Constitution.

The end of the War of 1812 was quite ambiguous, since no one could assert that America was the country to win the war. There was no complete victory over the outer enemy, however it was a triumph of the American government on the domestic political arena, the end of the war was a full success to the Republicans, who were able to finally defeat their opponents.
Once the war of 1812 ended, Indians were no longer capable of blocking the expansion of the newly created state East of the Mississippi River. Also, being abandoned by the French and Spanish colonizers, the native Americans, Indians, were also forced to give up their lands in Northern part of modern America, north of the Ohio River. Therefore, the war of 1812 provided Americans with the possibility to expand and to develop a new, strong and independent state.
Once the war of 1812 was over, America became known as a state, which was confident and brave enough to fight one of the most powerful countries in the world. From the first glance this fact might not seem very significant in the history of the country, it is not so. For example, Spanish leaders paid attention to the fact that the newly emerged country is quite ambitious, and made a decision to leave Florida, leaving it under American control. Also, the war allowed Americans to harden control over the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, as the result of rewriting of the boundaries between the US and Spain.

What were the main elements of the market revolution?

Despite the fact that the "market revolution" seems to be a relatively new term, the ideas behind it in any case are not original. Market revolution can be characterized as the transition from an economic system based on local agricultural and handicraft production to industrial-type economy, which became market-oriented. Maybe it this definition is not quite applicable to America at the beginning of the XIXth century, it definitely the nature of the market revolution, that occurred in the US at that time.
In 1815 the US was a predominantly agricultural country, and most farmers did not even produce for the market, since the transportation of goods was a very expensive and laborious process. However, the improvement of communication, construction of roads, canals, steamboats, and railroads allowed to decrease the transport costs within the country, which, consequently was the main cause of the emergence of the increasingly commercialized and industrialized society.
The beginning of the capitalist transformation in the southern and western outskirts of the country was caused by the boom that followed the end of the Anglo-American War of 1812. After the Anglo-American War of 1812-1815 years began a long rise of national industry. It was caused by the following factors: firstly, all the investments were reorientated from the trade and shipping spheres to manufacturing; secondly, the protectionists policies by the government. During the war corporations began to form, with the main goal of consolidating the capital for the construction of the large industrial facilities. They acted on the basis of acts of incorporation issued by state legislatures. Thus, the financial base of industrial construction was also expanding, what is an intangible element of the market revolution.
What were the major factors contributing to U.S. territorial expansion in the 1840s?
There is a big variety of answers to this question, since this matter is very subjective. One might say that Immigration is the most important factor, that made the country expand, however, in my opinion it is not so. I truly believe that the main impulse, that laid behind the expansion was the Manifest Destiny — a popular belief that Americans are destined to expand throughout the whole continent. It was the time when the term of Manifest Destiny was coined in the consciousness of every American citizen and politician, therefore, they had a good moral justification for the expansion. Such an ideology also made America a superior state, which deserved to capture lands from Indians and Mexicans, without any chance to be punished. Talking about punishment, it has to be said that during 1840s America was a military mighty country, especially in comparison with Mexico, therefore, it was very easy to receive a victory in the Mexican-American War, winning over a lot of territories. When the war was over, the Treaty that followed conceded a tremendous amount of Mexican lands to the US, which can be considered the biggest annexation of land after the Louisiana Purchase. And the last, but not the least important factor, that had a huge impact on the territorial expansion of the United States in the 1840s was the development of railroad on the newly acquired territories. This facilitated the process of settlement, farming and mining. And, of course, one should not forget such a vital factor as immigration. Although it is not the main reason for expansion, it is a very important one, since due to the cheap lands, more and more Europeans were coming to the US, searching for the better life, and they need of the new territories was only growing.

How did a war to preserve the Union also become a war to end slavery?

Everyone is aware of the fact that the Civil War ended with the cancellation of slavery in the Southern states of the country. However, from the very beginning it was known that the war started to preserve the union, and had nothing to do with the abolition of slavery. The turning point, which changed the whole goal of the war was the issuing of Emancipation Proclamation, and that was the point when the war was being fought to end the slavery. Lincoln sincerely believed, that by freeing the slaves, he would hurt the Southern economy, what would make their victory in the war impossible. The President had accurately counted, that the freed blacks would start gorilla fights against their landlord, what would eventually weaken their positions, and the North would win the war, and the Union will be saved. Therefore, after Gettysburg, Lincoln made it clear that the war should be taken as a moral crusade, called to end slavery as an institution.
Also, it has to be noted that there is another reason for such a drift of the Civil War focus — lack of soldiers. After the Gettysburg the Union had lost thousands of men, and there was a need in a potential manpower. By changing the focus of the war from saving the union to the abolition of slavery, Lincoln won the support of the free African-American from the Northern states, who were more than willing to fight the Southern landlords.
Therefore, one should admit that such a shift of the focus of the Civil War was a great move, made by Abraham Lincoln, who managed to save the union, to finally end the institution of slavery, and, of course, to satisfy the interests of the people, who brought him to power.