Notes

In 1846, Whig congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania had proposed a law, known as the Wilmot Proviso, that would ban slavery in any lands won from Mexico. The proposal broke party unity and instead divided Congress largely along sectional lines. Most northern Democrats joined all northern Whigs to support the Wilmot Proviso. Southern Democrats joined southern Whigs in opposition. The Proviso passed in the House of Representatives, but it failed narrowly in the Senate.

The Wilmot Proviso would reappear in every session of Congress for the next 15 years. Repeatedly, it passed in the House only to fail in the Senate. The Proviso brought the slavery issue to the forefront and weakened the two major parties, which had long tried to avoid discussing the issue in Congress. Thus, the lands won from Mexico increased tensions between North and South.

-expanding territories / need for faster forms of communication/transportation leading to the inventions of the telegraph, development of railroad systems, and steamboats
-1837 samuel fb morse invents electric telegraph & more code - by 1960 the nation had 50k mi. of telegraph lines / before the telegraph a message could pass only as fast as a horse could carry a letter / telegraph sent instantly
-as territories increased so did the need for swifter communication
-1776 - confederated 13 colonies / states as the united states of america
-population was 2.5 million (13 states)
-1783 - treaty of paris recognised american independence and granted generous boundaries to the us (lands up to mississippi from france) population now 3.1 million
-with the us population rapidly rising, the country wanted to expand its borders - in turn, the expansion of land brought about by the louisiana purchase (1803) encouraged population growth. jefferson obtained a vast territory extending from the mississippi river to the rockey mountains (nearly doubled the size of the us)
-development of turnpikes (roads you've to pay for travelling on), steamboat / canals (erie canal for example), steam-powered engines / iron rails, railroads, 1793 textile mill...
-the arrival of industrychanged the way many americans worked by reducing the skill required for many jobs / artisans could not compete with manufactureres working with many low-cost laborers
-early 1800s - middle class emerges (between worker class and upper class) / comprised of immigrants (1830s about 600k immigrants arrived, doubled to 1,5mil during 1840s and doubled again to 2,8mil in the 1850s) / immigration promoted urban growth (1860 immigrants comprised more tan 40 percent of the population of nyc)

1776 - 1819
-1776 - confederated 13 colonies / states as the United States of America
-Letters were distributed / delivered on horseback / on foot / carriage (slower means of communication)
-Population between 2.5 (13 colonies / states) - 5.6 million (Louisiana Purchase)
-1783 Treaty of Paris (obtained land up to Mississippi (from France)) 3.1 mil. pop.
-Development of turnpikes (roads you've to pay for travelling on), steamboat / canals (Erie Canal for example), steam-powered engines / iron rails, railroads, 1793 textile mill...
-1803 Louisiana Purchase (obtained land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, nearly doubling the size of the US)
-1819 - Treaty of Adams-Onis Spain sells Florida to the US / Transcontinental Treaty (1821) agreement was approved of and so Florida became a territory of the US / Florida defined the boundary between the US and New Spain - Population now 9.3 million
-Middle class comprised of immigrants (early 1800s... cont.)
-Immigrants and expansion of lands (via Lousiana Purchase) encouraged population growth

1845 - 1870
-(Immigrant population about 600,000 (1830s), doubling to 1,500,000 during 1840s, and doubling again to 2,800,000 in the 1850s, and by 1860s immigrants compromised more than 40 percent of the population of New York City)
-1845 - 1848 Mexican-American War, Annexation of Texas, and Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo / annexed Texas into the US (Population skyrockets to 19.8 population, doubling the previous population count) 1848 Mexo cedes 525,000 square miles to the US