Westward Expansion and Reform
The nineteenth century was marked by the violence, power, and labor of territorial expansion (Map 1.1). In 1803, President Jefferson doubled the size of the United States by purchasing the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon. The US purchased Florida from Spain in 1819.By 1821, eight new states had entered the union as equals to the older states. The northern states had abolished slavery, but Southerners held tightly to their property and way of life.Slavery increasingly disturbed Northerners, who saw it as a stain on the nation’s otherwise ―heroic‖ narrative. Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder, had once offered an apology that the institution was a necessary evil.Jefferson likened slavery to holding ―the wolf by the ears.‖ You don’t like it, but you don’t dare let it go (quoted in McPherson, 1982: 39).The principal American philosopher for freedom and equality clung to his slaves throughout his life.
19世纪的美国以暴力、权力以及扩张领土的活动为特征。1803年,杰斐逊总统从拿破仑手中购买了路易斯安那州,这使得美国当时的领土扩大了两倍。1819年,美国又从西班牙手中购买了福罗里达州。到了1821年,就有八个新的州加入了美国联邦,已经与美国原有州的数量相等了。当北部各州已经废除奴隶制时,南方仍固守他们的财产不放,坚持原来的生活方式。渐渐的,北部的人将奴隶制看作民族英雄史上的污点,它的存在已经成为了一种阻碍。托马斯杰斐逊作为一个奴隶制曾道歉说奴隶制度是一种必要的邪恶。他将其比作是。引用麦克福森的话说,尽管你不喜欢它,但你又不能废除它。这个一生都为了公平和自由而战的哲学家,却拼命控制住自己的奴隶。
Whites coveted western lands and as wagon trains rolled out of Eastern cities, Indians were killed and confined to reservations.By 1838, all the Eastern tribes had been forced west of the Mississippi River and, in the most famous atrocity, 15,000 Cherokees were forced to relocate from Georgia to Indian territory in Oklahoma. 4,000 died along this ―trail of tears.‖Complicating the
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