Comparison 1844-1877

Sea to shining sea

Between 1844 and 1877, the United States dramatically expanded, both territorially and in terms of its population; by 1854, the United States spanned its entire continental dimensions and in 1867 the US purchased Alaska from Russia, a development about which you will read more in the next chapter. During this time period, the United States emerged as not only the most powerful country in the western hemisphere but as an increasingly influential international actor. The United States also confronted enormous challenges, especially its own civil war and the chaotic aftermath of Reconstruction.

An imperfect union

As a result of territorial expansion, including through new areas claimed from the Mexican-American War, as well as the ending of slavery through the 13th Amendment, the American government and population had to address profound questions about citizenship and the country’s relations with African Americans, Native Americans and newly arrived immigrants. Women increasingly advocated for greater rights and improved economic, legal and political status in the United States, most notably at the Seneca Falls Convention that you studied in the previous chapter. By the end of this time period, the United States had confronted its most serious and sustained challenges since the **American Revolution **and emerged as a more powerful but unequal country; the American republic formally expanded the rights of the formerly enslaved and the children of recently arrived immigrants but enforced these rights inconsistently.

Opportunities and challenges ahead

With the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction, millions of Americans looked ahead, with a mix of confidence and trepidation, to the opportunities and challenges that the later years of the 19th century presented. With the completion of the transcontinental railroad and advances in communications, including the telephone, finance, manufacturing, and transportation, American economic might was poised to continue growing. One of the unresolved questions, though, was how broadly would this economic might and wealth be distributed and how would the American government and society address the growing needs and wants of a rapidly expanding country.

The time period 1844-1877 was marked by profound challenges, controversies and conflicts as Americans confronted the realities of implementing the soaring rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence and the preamble to the Constitution.