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1 A New World
2 Beginnings of English America, 1607–1660
3 Creating Anglo-America, 1660–1750
4 Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle for Empire, to 1763
5 The American Revolution, 1763–1783
6 The Revolution Within
7 Founding a Nation, 1783–1789
8 Securing the Republic, 1790–1815
9 The Market Revolution, 1800–1840
10 Democracy in America, 1815–1840
11 The Peculiar Institution
12 An Age of Reform, 1820–1840
13 A House Divided, 1840–1861
14 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, 1861–1865
15 “What Is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865–1877
16 America’s Gilded Age, 1870–1890
17 Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad, 1890–1900
18 The Progressive Era, 1900–1916
19 Safe for Democracy: The United States and World War I, 1916–1920
20 From Business Culture to Great Depression: The Twenties, 1920–1932
21 The New Deal, 1932–1940
22 Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941–1945
23 The United States and the Cold War, 1945–1953
24 An Affluent Society, 1953–1960
25 The Sixties, 1960–1968
26 The Triumph of Conservatism, 1969–1988
27 Globalization and Its Discontents, 1989–2000
28 September 11 and the Next American Century

Chapter 8: Securing the Republic, 1790–1815

Sources of Freedom

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This chapter concentrates on the political history of the new nation as it enlarged its boundaries and solidified its independence.

Starting with George Washington's inauguration, the chapter explains how the founding fathers believed that the preservation of liberty and freedom for the republic relied upon the success of the American experiment in self-government. Contrasting views as to how government should look immediately emerged with the formulation of America's first political parties. The Federalists supported Alexander Hamilton's program for economic growth while the Democratic-Republicans supported Thomas Jefferson's vision for an agrarian republic. These political debates enlarged the public sphere and an excerpt from one political society, the Democratic-Republican Society of Pennsylvania, is highlighted in Voices of Freedom.

The chapter then examines the presidency of John Adams, highlighting the restrictions placed upon liberties through the Alien and Sedition Acts. Further restrictions to freedom are explored when discussing slavery and politics and the attempted slave rebellion led by Gabriel. Thomas Jefferson's expansion of executive power is demonstrated with the Louisiana Purchase, which allowed for both western expansion and economic freedom and the eventual expansion of the Cotton Kingdom and slavery. British infringements upon American rights at sea jeopardized American freedom. The failures of embargoes against Great Britain and France led to economic crisis at home and a cry for war from the War Hawks. James Madison declared war against Great Britain in 1812 and, although the war ended by establishing the status quo, it did solidify American independence and freedom from Britain for good.


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