Chapter10: Democracy in America, GML questions

1. How did Quincy Adams envision the United States becoming the "freest and mightiest nation in the world"?

-John Quincy Adams was a cold man and was also very strict. He envision the U.S.  as the freest with a strong federal government and high tariffs. He was very strict so he wanted the laws and the Constitution to be strict with the rules.

2. How did Democrats and Whigs differ in their understanding of American freedom and its relationship to governmental power?

-The Whigs and the Democrats differ because the Democrats wanted to focus in social problems while the whigs wanted to focus in raising the economy. The Democrats believed that the government need to focus more on their citizens like some of the working class and enhance their wealth rather then be obsessed with money. The Whigs wanted for the economy to increase and believed that a national bank and tariffs help.

3. What were the main characteristics of the "American System"?

    - The main characteristics were that  a new national bank should be established, a tariff for protecting importing manufactured goods should be passed, and they should improve roads and canals. However, establishing a new national bank became a problem because they printed too much paper money that it was loosing its value creating the Panic of 1819 where many people went bankrupted and unemployed because they couldn't pay back the banks. These American system was to make the united states less dependent from Europe.

4.  What were the main arguments for and against Indian removal?

   - The main arguments for the Indian removal was that  the government force the Indian population to leave to the West, so the Cherokee's went to court but they lost. The problem was that Jefferson believed that they could be civilized people so they had established schools, became farmers, and adopted many American ways until they when they wen to court they kicked them out in which resulted in the trail of tears where several Indians die while going to Oklahoma.

5. How did the Missouri Compromise and the nullification crisis demonstrate increasing sectional differences in antebellum America?

-The Missouri Compromise was when Henry Clay made a constitution for Missouri which protected slavery but the North did not agree so they split Missouri into two parts one enslaved and the free. The nullification crisis economically decreased many people because the tariffs were too high. The two of the events created tenses between the north and south and defined that the countries were not agreeing with the laws passed and showed how the north and south were splitting up.