Transcript North America Economics

The United States of America
European “Discovery” & Settlement
 Occupied by natives that descended from the early
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people that migrated across the Bering Strait
15th Century – Europeans began to explore & found
the N.A. continent, calling it the “New World”
Spanish found it first, exploring the SE & SW for
treasure – French & English arrived later
1565 – Spanish founded St. Augustine, FL – oldest
permanent settlement in the U.S.
French settled along the northern Atlantic coast, St.
Laurence River, Great Lakes, & Mississippi River
Basin
 Three major phases:
 The
colonial era
(1492-1783)
 Independence and
expansion (17831898)
 Imperialism (1898-)
European “Discovery” & Settlement
 English were more interested in establishing
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permanent settlements than the French
They settled the areas to the south from Maine to
Georgia
1607 – English establish first permanent settlement
in Jamestown, Virginia
European settlements often displaced the Native
Americans living there
1617 – Europeans brought African slaves to work on
tobacco & cotton plantations
Columbian Exchange
 Exchange between the “Old World” & the “New World” –
plants, animals, & diseases
 New diseases killed from 50 – 90% of Native Americans
 Diagram on p. 136 – create table of info
Independence & Expansion
 1763 – British gain control of North America east of
the Mississippi
 French still control areas in the west
 Spanish controlled Florida & the SW
 England’s 13 colonies resented rule of the British
from across the Atlantic
 1775 – 1783: American Revolution won America’s
independence from England
 1803 – Louisiana Purchase bought huge area from
the French, doubling the size of the United States for
$15 million
Area of the Louisiana Purchase
Growth & Conflict
 1800’s – large immigration from Western Europe
 Industrializing
Northeast
 Rich farmland of the Midwest
 Sectionalism grew
 People felt more loyalty to their region than to the
larger nation
 Political & economic tension between
industrialized North & agricultural South based on
slave labor
 Civil War 1861 – 1865
Westward Expansion
 2nd half of 19th Century – settlers move into newly
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opened lands of the American West
Hundreds of thousands travel in covered wagons
toward the Pacific
Native Americans were removed by treaties or by
force
1869 – American Transcontinental Railroad was
completed
By 1890 – 17 million settlers west of the Mississippi
& frontier is fully settled
Frontier
• Free, open
land between
the Miss.
River & the
Pacific
Expansion
 The Gold Rush (1849)
 Gold
in California.
 Transcontinental
railroad completed 1869
 Journey was reduced
from 6 months by trail
to 1 week by train
 Asia workers played a
key role
Immigration & Development
 1860 – 1900, over 14 million immigrants came from
Western & Eastern Europe as the West was being
settled
 Many settled in urban areas where manufacturing
industries were growing
 Cities like Detroit, New York, Boston, Pittsburg,
Cleveland, & Chicago
 Industries like textiles, food processing, steel, & oil
 U.S. became the dominant political & economic
power in the world
Expansion of the American Republic
 13 Colonies
 Revolutionary War (1776-1781)
 Louisiana Purchase (1803)
 Florida (1821)
 Texas annexation (1845)
 Mexican American War (1848)
 Gadsden Purchase (1853)
 Seward’s Folly (1867)
 Hawaii (1898)
U.S.A. in the World
 U.S. had enough land & resources to be almost
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independent from the rest of the world
Protected from invasion by oceans on two of its
borders
Tried to keep out of foreign affairs during westward
expansion & industrialization
World depression & World Wars brought U.S.A.
further into relationships with other countries &
foreign affairs
WWII left U.S. the only major nation that was
undamaged & had a healthy economy
Social Change
 Large numbers of people began to move out of cities
& into the communities outside of the city limits, the
Suburbs
 Many move from the colder North to the warmer
climates of the West & South
 Immigration continued, but mainly from Asia &
countries is Central & South America
 60’s & 70’s – Civil Rights, Feminism, & Anti-War
Protests changed American culture
Technological Change & Globalization
 Economy continued to grow & was revolutionized by
computers
 Service industries grew larger than industrial
production
 Examples: information processing, transportation,
medicine, & education
 U.S.A. became world’s greatest economic power
Cold War
 American political influence spread after WWII
 U.S. became the leader of the non-Communist
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countries
Their goal was to stop the spread of Communism
Communist countries were lead by the Soviet Union
(now Russia)
U.S. & Soviet Union struggled for dominance in
world affairs – Cold War, 1945-1991
Soviet Union collapsed, leaving the U.S. the world’s
only Superpower