George M Frederickson Expansionism Analysis

As a result, America succeeded into its first modern election, in the four years since the election in 1824, new voters were added to the electoral roles as property ownership was no longer a requirement to vote. In 1828 Jackson won the presidential race. Historian, George M. Frederickson, in his essay Expansionism on the American and South African Frontiers, compares the mandatory elimination of Native Americans to the trans- Mississippi West with the coinciding Great Trek of South Africa’s Boer settlers. The key to understanding American Indian policy between 1790 and 1830 is not the policy advocating for different racial groups, but the fact that the government was responsible to a white electorate that was persuaded that the fate …show more content…
Specifically, I found the essay written by Kukla to be an eye-opener as to the huge deal it was for the United States to gain the Louisiana Territory, it was not known to me that this doubled the land the United States had. Until recently I believed it to be just the small portion of land that Louisiana is today. Having the access to the Mississippi River was definitely worthwhile all the hassle and run around they were given from Napoleon and the Talleyrand. I found Lipset’s article to be informative of how the new nation formed in a sociological point of view. My favorite was Parish’s essay as it assisted me in finding the meaning of nationalism and how the men (and women) developed a sense of loyalty to their new country and made it their own separate from any authority. I enjoyed reading how education, literacy, industrialization helped form the nation as a whole, while it developed communities, families and individuals as well. Johnson’s essay taught me the importance of the government that was created and the changes that was made to form the political parties we vote from today. I also found it interesting the parallels between the presidential candidates of yesterday to the ones of today. Last but not least, Frederickson’s was my least favorite as it shared another one of America’s skeleton in the closet so to speak, these are the things we do not talk about when we discuss history as it shows the brutality and the selfishness of the people that began our nation. It is disheartening to read about what the founding Fathers chose to do to create a new world. I often ponder how different our land would be and how different our racial views would be if we shared our land with the Indians instead of exiling them to their own