History of the United States (1815–1849)

The history of the United States from 1815 to 1849—also called the Middle Period, the Antebellum Era, or the Age of Jackson—involved westward expansion across the American continent, the proliferation of suffrage to nearly all white men, and the rise of the Second Party System of politics between Democrats and Whigs. Whigs—representing merchants, financiers, professionals, and a growing middle class—wanted to modernize society, using tariffs and federally funded internal improvements; Jacksonian Democrats opposed them and closed down the national bank in the 1830s. The Jacksonians favored expansion across the continent, known as manifest destiny, dispossessing American Indians of lands to be occupied by farmers, planters, and slaveholders. Thanks to the annexation of Texas, the defeat of Mexico in war, and a compromise with Britain, the western third of the nation rounded out the continental United States by 1848.

The transformation America underwent was not so much political democratization but rather the explosive growth of technologies and networks of infrastructure and communication, including with the telegraph, railroads, the post office, and an expanding print industry. These developments made possible the religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening, the expansion of education, and social reform. They modernized party politics and sped up business by enabling the fast, efficient movement of goods, money, and people across an expanding nation. They transformed a loose-knit collection of parochial agricultural communities into a powerful cosmopolitan nation. Economic modernization proceeded rapidly, thanks to highly profitable cotton crops in the South, new textile and machine-making industries in the Northeast, and a fast developing transportation infrastructure.

Breaking loose from European models, the Americans developed their own high culture, notably in literature and in higher education. The Second Great Awakening brought revivals across the country, forming new denominations and greatly increasing church membership, especially among Methodists and Baptists. By the 1840s, increasing numbers of immigrants were arriving from Europe, especially British, Irish, and Germans. Many settled in the cities, which were starting to emerge as a major factor in the economy and society. The Whigs had warned that annexation of Texas would lead to a crisis over slavery, and they were proven right by the turmoil of the 1850s that led to the Civil War.