Physical and Human Factors

may influence ongoing development and events in history.

Physical factors relate to the physical characteristics of

a place such as climate, weather, and landforms. These lead

to events, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, or droughts, which

influence the chain of events constituting Texas history.

Physical factors also influence development. Most early

settlement in Texas concentrated in the eastern portion of

the state because the soils, climate, and vegetation compared

favorably to other parts of the South from which most settlers

migrated. Transportation routes developed to link settlements

which evolved into cities. Human factors relate to the

human characteristics of a place. These also play a role in

Texas history. As population pressures in the eastern portion

of the state increased, settlement moved west. As technology

improved, settlers in the western plains began to irrigate

their crop land and the area’s economy developed around

cotton-based agriculture. This is one way human factors influence

development by modifying the environment.

Plantation System The plantation system is a system

of agricultural production based on large-scale land

ownership and the exploitation of labor and the environment.

Production is usually concentrated on a cash crop which is

sought by a national or international market. For instance,

the plantation system of agriculture developed in the southern

United States as landowners concentrated their capital

in slaves and produced tobacco, rice, sugar and cotton for

the world market. Plantation agriculture continues today in

tropical areas around the world with the following cash crops:

tea, rubber, coffee, sugar cane, and cocoa.

Points of View of Political Parties Several factors

contributed to the division of political activity in the

United States into a party system. Parties reflect different

points of view regarding structures of governance, economics

and national finance, political representation, and rights

and responsibilities of individuals, states, and the nation.

Politically active people with competing interests, opinions,

and attitudes united under party names to argue their causes.

In the 1830s published party platforms and public debates

developed to inform voters of the goals and objectives proposed

by each party. The Anti-Masonic party held the first

national convention in 1831.

Republicanism and constitutional democracy require representation

of different points of view and involvement of different

interest groups. The Constitution resulted from rigorous

debate between those favoring a strong central government

and those favoring a union of sovereign states. Those

favoring a centralized government also believed in classical

republicanism, with power vested in representatives who

were fit to lead due to their wealth and education. This contrasted

to opinions held by states’ rights advocates who believed

in popular or mass participation in government. Tension

continued between these factions and resulted in threats

to nullify national laws or to secede from the union. The

authority of the federal government was re-enforced during

the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican,

accepted nothing less than full compliance with national

causes on the part of the largely Democratic south.

Special interest groups often function within the two-party

system. This increased during the Progressive movement on

the local and state levels in the 1890s to 1900s, and on the

national and international levels in the 1910s and 1920s.

Differing points of view also result in the formation of thirdparties,

the Anti-Masons, the Populists, the Socialists, and

the Liberal Party to name a few.

Points of View, Frames of Reference, and Historical

Context Historians and social scientists

strive to understand what happened in the past but are often

limited by incomplete evidence. To analyze available sources

they identify the different interests, opinions, and attitudes

50

reflected in the evidence (points of view) and understand the

reference). Then they place the people and events in historical

context, relating them to other events and ideas which

occurred at the same time. By doing so, students gain a greater

understanding of what happened and how it relates to current

events.

of special interest groups. Described by many as a document

which furthered democracy, others argued that it hindered

it. The first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, were

added later to satisfy those interested in protecting the people

from the powers of a strong central government. The Federalist

and Anti-Federalist debates at ratification provide further

evidence of conflicting points of view which contributed

to the U.S. Constitution as it exists today. Any explanation

of the significance of the Constitution and its heritage

remains incomplete if the points of view which cause differences

of opinion are not understood and acknowledged.

The farmer in Massachusetts had an opinion about the Constitution

as did the planter of Virginia and the merchant in

Charleston, South Carolina. The information each acquired

differed based on their participation in the drafting and ratification

of the Constitution. Just as the perception of a football

player on the line of scrimmage differs from that of the

referee and of the fan sitting in the bleachers, the frame of

reference of James Madison and other pro-Constitution delegates

differed from those of the Anti-Federalists who fought

it.

reference, one based in the present, and informed by new

approaches and methods. They analyze the available evidence

by sorting through it, prioritizing it, distinguishing important

information from the less important, and interpreting it.

Thus, interpretations of one event change over time, partially

due to new ways to look at old sources. New sources also

contribute to new understandings.

that political power rests with the people who can create,

alter, and abolish government. People express themselves

through voting and free participation in government.

Popular sovereignty is an important characteristic of democratic

government.

produced by someone who participated in an event or lived

during the time being studied. Letters written to a friend or

maps to a friend’s house are both primary sources. Researchers

collect primary sources through conducting surveys, field

work, personal interviews, and research in archives.

imported product instituted to protect local industries. The

tax increases the price of the import which makes it less appealing

to consumers. Tariffs ultimately protect domestic

products from competition from other countries.

Radical Reconstruction Congress After the

Civil War Radical Republicans favored harsh treatment of

the South and quick incorporation of the freemen into citizenship

with full privileges including voting rights for all

African Americans, government seizure of land from planters

for redistribution to freedmen, and funding of schools

for African Americans. They also agreed that ex-Confederates

were traitors and should not be readily accepted into

the union.

Even though Radical Republicans were a minority in the

Congress, their arguments gained a following. They questioned

why the Civil War had been fought if the South was

going to be allowed to return to its antebellum ways. In 1866

and 1867 the radical approach to Reconstruction gained support

and Congress was able to pass the Reconstruction Act

of 1867. This marked the beginning of Reconstruction.

If southern states hoped to rejoin the Union they had to accept

the 14th Amendment (the Civil Rights Act of 1866) and

they had to rewrite their constitutions so all adult men were

able to vote. Beginning in 1867 the Freedmen’s Bureau

worked to register African-American voters and start schools

for African-American children. The southerners were not

united in their opposition to Radical Republican rule. Because

poorer white farmers were eager to gain some power

traditionally held by the planters, they accepted some of the

Reconstruction measures. Planters were opposed to most

Radical measures because it limited their ability to control

society as they had done for generations. The poorer whites

and planters were united, however, in their opposition to

social equality and that was a major threat the Radical Reconstruction

posed.

The Ku Klux Klan gained support in 1868 from planters and

Republican party in the South. Since the recently franchised

African Americans voted Republican, KKK efforts were directed

at them. Regardless, throughout the ten years of Radical

Reconstruction, African-American legislatures were

elected to Congress and sought southern economic and political

reform. The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction.

Once federal troops were removed, the enforcement

mechanism was gone and southern Democrats returned to

governmental control, displacing the Radical Republicans.

Civil War period, from 1865 to 1877, the United States confronted

the problems of re-admitting the southern states to

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the Union and integrating the freed slaves into society. At

due to the increased production required for the war effort

and the fact that few battles were fought in that area. In contrast

the south was in ruins. To rebuild national strength, the

federal government supported the reformation of governments

in the former Confederate states which supported the

Union. Some congressmen believed the South should be further

punished for seceding and that Reconstruction should

require the following: voting rights for all African Americans,

no voting rights for ex-Confederates, government seizure

of land from planters for redistribution to freedmen,

and funding of schools for African Americans. Others, including

President Abraham Lincoln, believed in a quick healing.

When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, President Andrew

Johnson tried to implement similar Reconstruction policies.

Yet, many sought the more radical approach. When Congress

passed a Civil Rights Act in 1866 which advocated the

radical approach, Johnson vetoed it but Congress overrode.

Radical Reconstruction gained support and Congress was

able to pass the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This marked

the beginning of Reconstruction. If southern states hoped to

rejoin the federal government they had to accept the 14th

Amendment (the Civil Rights Act of 1866) and they had to

rewrite their constitutions so all adult men were able to vote.

The emancipation of the slaves left thousands of people without

work or income. One of the biggest challenges was creating

a system to give land to freedmen so they could farm

and make a living. This system was never developed. Instead,

due to disagreements among northern politicians and

a lack of interest on the part of southerners, a solution was

never found.

Reconstruction ended when President Rutherford B. Hayes

passed the Compromise of 1877 which removed the last of

the federal troops from the South. When they left, the Reconstruction

governments stopped and southerners regained

political control. These southerners were known as Redeemers.

They favored a return to the ways of the antebellum South

including a society based on the superiority of white people.

Challenges to the unequal treatment of blacks and women

became more united during the civil rights movements and

peaked when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.

Reform Movements The second Great

Awakening was a revival of religious faith. As a result, Baptists,

Methodists, and Presbyterians realized an increased

sense of confidence in themselves and in the United States.

By the 1830s and 1840s women were taking a more active

role in churches and missionary societies in an attempt to

share their good fortune.This work to reform society, or

change it for the better, expanded beyond sharing religion

and education with the less fortunate. Reformers sought to

change unfair labor practices, increase nutrition, and improve

conditions for the poor, the enslaved, the imprisoned, women,

alcoholics, and the disabled. The efforts were often led by

upper class men and women from the Northeast.

Often unable to effect change, reformers sought refuge in

their own utopian societies, ideal communities where they

could live by their own standards of conduct. The most powerful

reform movements were led by abolitionists and by

suffragists. Abolitionists in the United States sought freedom

for African-American slaves while suffragists sought

equal rights for women, particularly the right to vote. These

efforts to attain civil rights culminated in the Civil Rights

Act of 1964.

Land was a valuable commodity in the early 1800s when

cotton planters and farmers sought to extend their settlements

west and south. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw,

and Choctaw of the south, and the Sauk and Fox, Chippewas,

Ottawa, Potawatomi, Wyandot, Shawnee, and Miami of the

north were all removed from their native lands and sent to

Indian Territory, much of which is in present-day Oklahoma.

The removal was not peaceful.

The Indians, particularly the Cherokee, attempted to adopt

aspects of U.S. society and government. Sequoya, a Cherokee,

developed an alphabet. The tribe wrote a constitution,

had newspapers and even the Bible in Cherokee. Regardless

of the attempts of Indians to assimilate, President Andrew

Jackson insisted on the removal of the Indians from the southwest.

In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which

designated public lands in the west for Indian resettlement.

In 1832, in response to an appeal by the Cherokee, Chief

Justice John Marshall of the Supreme Court declared that it

was unconstitutional for the state of Georgia to remove the

tribe from their land. The ruling was ignored. Many Indians

did not leave peacefully nor was the going easy once they

were removed. The Cherokee endured the Trail of Tears, traveling

during a harsh winter as refugees.

government, power is held by the people and exercised

through the efforts of representatives elected by those

people.

limited government with elected representatives serving at

the will of the people. Republicanism says that the only legitimate

government is one based on the consent of the governed.

or interpretations prepared by people who were not involved

in the events described. Researchers often use pri-

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mary sources to understand past events but they produce secondary

material and context for information gained from primary

sources.

Separation of Powers Baron de Montesquieu

first outlined the concept of separating the powers of government

between the executive, legislative, and judicial

branches in The Spirit of the Laws (1748). His ideas influenced

those who proposed the Virginia Plan in the opening

discussion of the Philadelphia Convention, held in 1787 to

revise the Articles of Confederation. Delegates to the convention

modified the Virginia Plan, merged it with the New

Jersey Plan proposed later, defined the three branches, and

outlined their responsibilities and limitations of power in the

U.S. Constitution. The branches included the legislative

branch know as “Congress” made up of a “House of Representatives”

and a “Senate,” the executive branch known as

the “President,” and the judicial branch known as the “Supreme

Court.”

The convention agreed that Congress, which made laws,

and a variable number of representatives from each state

based on population. The powers of the legislative branch

are outlined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The President

would lead the executive branch, which carried out the

laws and ensured their just application. These powers are

outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The judicial

branch, consisting of all courts of the United States including

the highest court, the Supreme Court, would interpret

and apply the laws, ensuring that they are just. Its powers

are outlined in Article III. The delegates to the Philadelphia

Convention felt this afforded protection to U.S. citizens.

In addition this new form of government distributed the power

between a central government and the states. The system

was called federalism.

Slave Trade Millions of Africans came to America on

slave ships from the 1490s to the 1790s. Of these, about

400,000 were sold into slavery in North America, most arriving

in the 1760s. The Revolutionary War and the subsequent

interest in natural rights decreased support for the trade.

Most slaves brought into North America came from the west

coast of Africa, between Senegal in the north and Angola in

the south. Most were captured by other Africans and sold to

dealers on the coast. Slave markets in Charleston, South

Carolina, and Newport, Rhode Island, and other port cities

prospered during the 1700s. In 1774 the Continental Congress

urged states to abolish the slave trade and most supported

the request. Several northern states either abolished

slavery completely or emancipated slaves over a period of

time. Some planters in the south even freed slaves. By 1790

all states except South Carolina and Georgia outlawed the

trade. In 1787 during the Constitutional Convention, delegates

agreed that the slave trade would not end for 20 more

years. On January 1, 1808, Congress officially ended the international

slave trade. Internal trade continued and increased

from 1830 to 1860 as slaves from upper southern states were

sold south and west to satisfy the need of planters moving

west. Efforts to stop the trade within the south arose from a

fear of slave insurrection and less from humanitarian purposes.

funds by levying tariffs or taxes on imported goods. Tariffs

place foreign merchants at a disadvantage, making their goods

more expensive than domestic (American-made) products.

Generally, northern businessmen favored tariffs because the

taxes offered some protection from foreign competition.

Southern agriculturists opposed tariffs because they were

more dependent on foreign goods. Because they sold most

of their cotton to foreign merchants, southern cotton growers

had foreign credit which they had to use to purchase higher

priced foreign goods.

Tariffs imposed on certain domestic goods also caused unrest.

In 1794 Alexander Hamilton favored taxing whiskey to

generate needed revenue. Farmers in western Pennsylvania

who distilled their corn into whiskey were angered by the

tax because they considered it unfair. They refused to pay

the tax. In a show of force, federal troops marched to western

Pennsylvania to overthrow the Whiskey Rebellion. By

the time they arrived, the angry farmers had disbanded, but

the incident proved that the government would enforce laws.

demonstrates a particular feature or a single item of interest.

For instance, thematic maps can show spatial distributions

of population, religion, or cattle production. Four types of

thematic maps are:

Dot maps

Proportional symbol maps

Isoline maps

U.S. Constitution A constitution is a document that

outlines the powers of government. One of the foundations

of the American system of government is the use of a written

constitution defining the values and principles of government

and establishing the limits of power. The U.S. Constitution

evolved from the Articles of Confederation, adopted

in 1781. The Articles established a national congress with a

limited number of powers including the authority to make

laws and enter into treaties with other nations. By 1787 a

new system was needed as states were acting independently,

and Congress lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, or control

coinage, issues critical for the survival of a new nation

of united states.

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Congress announced a call for delegates to a convention “for

Confederation. The Philadelphia Convention began in the

Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall,

on May 25, 1787. Fifty-five delegates from 12 of the 13 states

participated. The more daring quickly overstepped the intended

goal of the convention by proposing plans to replace

the old Articles.

James Madison formulated many of the ideas included in

the Constitution and is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”

He proposed that the U.S. government be organized

in three branches: a legislative branch (Congress), an executive

branch (the President) and a judicial branch (Supreme

Court). The “Great Compromise” related to representation

of states in the federal government. Delegates engaged in

heated debate but finally agreed that legislative power should

rest in a two-house Congress, the House of Representatives

including delegates from each state based on population, and

the Senate including an equal number of elected delegates

from each state. Article II outlined the executive department

and the powers of the President within that branch. This new

form of government distributed the power between a central

government and the states, a system called federalism.

Other compromises made during the drafting process included

the establishment of an Electoral College to elect the

president indirectly instead of by direct election, and the

“three-fifths compromise” which counted slaves as threefifths

of a person when apportioning direct taxes or counting

representation in the House of Representatives. Another compromise

related to the slave trade which the convention agreed

to end in 1807.

Article VII, Ratification of the Constitution, outlined the process

which required nine states to approve the U.S. Constitution.

The process fostered one of the great debates of American

history. The Federalists, who favored a strong central

government, supported the Constitution while the Anti-Federalists

favored states’ rights and the protection of individual

rights through a Bill of Rights. They opposed ratification.

Madison worked with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to

write The Federalist calling for ratification. Delegates elected

to state conventions determined the outcome. The first nine

states approved the constitution between December 1787 and

June 1788. The last four states ratified out of fear of exclusion,

believing they could not exist separate from the union.

Rhode Island was the last to ratify in May 1790.

The Framers of the Constitution understood that society

would change over time, and made provisions for amendments

to be formally proposed and ratified by both the state

and federal governments. In the last 200 years, there have

been 27 amendments to the Constitution, including the Bill

of Rights. Informal amendments to the Constitution keep

the government up-to-date without formal modifications to

the document, such as Court decisions (Roe v. Wade), legislation

(commerce laws), executive actions (the President’s

cabinet), and customs (Democrat/Republican parties).

Article V, The Process of Amendment, outlines the ways to

keep the Constitution current. The first Congress proposed

the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments, which protected

basic human rights and freedoms. This pleased Anti-Federalists

who felt the original document did not extend adequate

protection. The power of judicial review, first assumed by

the U.S. Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison, allows the

federal judicial branch to rule on issues of constitutional law

including civil liberties, suspect’s rights, equality, women’s

rights, minority rights, foreign policy, and constitutional

change. Through the process of amendment and judicial review,

the Constitution is adapted to the needs of each generation

of Americans.

Unalienable (Inalienable) Rights Unalienable

rights are fundamental rights or natural rights guaranteed to

people naturally instead of by the law. The Declaration of

Independence equated natural rights with several truths, “that

all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their

Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The phrase “unalienable

rights” was also used in the Virginia Declaration

of Rights. Other rights are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights,

the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

1619, the House of Burgesses was an assembly of elected

representatives from the Virginia colony. It was the first representative

assembly in the colonies, and it was used as a

model by other colonies. The House of Burgesses met in

Williamsburg, Virginia, throughout the colonial period.

the War of 1812 resulted from the need to protect

and further the republican experiment in the United States

through an effort to make European powers respect U.S.

policies. The United States was drawn into the War of 1812

because of economic ties to the warring nations of Great

Britain and France. These two nations paid little attention to

the rights of the United States to trade and the rights of its

citizens to remain neutral in the war. As the British fought

the French in the Napoleonic Wars, both committed maritime

offenses against the U.S., slowing trade, indiscriminately

seizing U.S. ships, and impressing Americans to serve in their

forces. The economy of the United States suffered due to

self-imposed restrictions on trade with Great Britain and

France, enacted by President Thomas Jefferson in the Embargo

of 1807 and by President James Madison in the Non-

Intercourse Act of 1809. In the western territories, settlers

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blamed the British for the problems with the Native Americans.

war on Great Britain and it did so on June 18, 1812.

The three main reasons for war included: the impressment

of U.S. sailors, violations of U.S. rights at sea, and British

support of Native American opposition to colonial settlement.

In 1812 and 1813, the United States attempted to seize Canada

as part of the strategy to reduce the dominance of Great Britain

and force the nation to recognize the United States and

abide by its foreign policies.

After the defeat of Napoleon in mid-1814, the British became

more aggressive toward the United States. The British

invaded several ports and set fire to government buildings,

including the White House in Washington, D.C., in reprisal

for the raids in Canada. The Treaty of Ghent, signed in late

December 1814, ended the war. The famous Battle of New

Orleans occurred two weeks later on January 8, 1815. Andrew

Jackson won public recognition for defending the city

from the superior forces of the British. He was elected and

served two terms as President of the United States from 1829

to 1837.

George Washington decided not to pursue a third term as

president of the United States, thereby allowing the election

of a successor. His farewell address to his cabinet, delivered

on September 17, was published in a Philadelphia newspaper

on September 19. In it, he stressed three dangers facing

the nation. The first related to the rise of political parties

which he believed could divide Americans and destroy the

cooperation needed in government. The second was sectionalism,

or political divisions based on geographic loyalties.

The third was the involvement in European rivalries

that repeatedly drove those nations to war. The last served as

a cornerstone of American foreign policy until this country’s

involvement in World War I. He also supported the preservation

of religion and morality as “the great pillars of human

happiness” and educational institutions for the “general diffusion