Colonialism In The 19th Century

During the 19th century the United States had for the first time citizens that learned about the revolutionary war, and the first time in American history that the nation was divided on an issue that seemed to impact many. Slavery was an issue consistently debated in the late 1840’s until reconstruction. As the United States began to expand westward the debate of whether new states would enter the Union as a slave or free state. This debate almost brought the young nation to its knees. Henry Clay (Senator from Kentucky) attempted to get an omnibus bill passed, however after much debate the bill was killed in the senate. It was not until Senator Stephen Douglas divided Clays package into five separate bills was a compromise reached. This later became known as the Compromise of 1850. One of the five bills that was passed targeted fugitive slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act was nothing revolutionary; the constitution contained a fugitive slave clause, and even a law enforcing the clause had been passed in 1793. This clause …show more content…
If we examine major events throughout the nineteenth century it quickly becomes apparent that colonialism had almost no impact on our nation. The idea of expansionism though was an idea that helped guide many decisions in the new country. If we examine some of the tectonic events of the nineteenth century it becomes apparent that colonialism is not involved. Manifest Destiny was the driving force behind the nineteenth century and is what can be used to understand the United States during the 1800’s. Colonialism is the practice of maintaining predominately political control over another people, territory, and or country while attempting to exploit it for it economic benefits. Colonialism was never an American ideal and was forced onto us, therefore when the British left so did