1. How the Americas Change: The Long 19th Century By: Kasandra Bartels History 141

2. 19th Century Most of the western hemisphere had gained independence from the powerful European colonies, yet they struggled to build and maintain states. The colonists strived to move westward, in search of cheap land to cultivate. Many people felt differently about how to achieve Enlightenment and these newly formed colonies were based on freedom, equality, and a stable constitutional government was a great challenge because of the social, economic, and cultural diversity.

3. 19th Century This era involved massive migration, and economic growth, benefits that masked the pitfalls of the civil war; the cause of conflicts with class and the struggle for racial equally amongst all of the people, not just wealthy white men. This new independence within the states influenced many other countries to want to gain independence, seeking freedom from imperial rule. In the late 1700’s a new constitution was drafted, the Declaration of Independence, which stated that ‘all men are created equal.” Yet this still limited the powers of the people, and took away powers of each individual state; allowing the federal government to make decisions on general issues.

4. The little ice age The little ice age was not an actual ice age because the temperature during this time period did not drop as long as it does in an actual ice age; yet this cooling allowed glaciers to grow and the growth of trees were affected. This time period was caused by numerous volcanic reactions which cooled the world’s temperature by 2 or 3 degrees Fahrenheit. The rings of trees hold evidence that winters were longer, meaning growing seasons shortened. A break out of diseases such as the bubonic plague broke out, killing nearly half the European population. Frozen harbors made it impossible to ship goods, leaving people to starve.

5. Frontiers of the Americas By a treaty signed on Apr. 30, 1803, the United States purchased from France the Louisiana Territory, more than 2 million sq km of land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. In 1762, France had ceded Louisiana to Spain, but by the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso the French had regained the area. Napoleon Bonaparte envisioned a great French empire in the New World, and he hoped to use the Mississippi Valley as a food and trade center to supply the island of Hispaniola, which was to be the heart of this empire.

6. Frontiers of the Americas At the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the colony of St. Domingue, now Haiti, furnished two-thirds of France’s overseas trade, employed one thousand ships and fifteen thousand French sailors. The colony became France’s richest, the envy of every other European nation. In August of 1791 an organized slave rebellion broke out, marking the start of a twelve-year resistance to obtain human rights. The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave revolt in history, and resulted in the establishment of Haiti, the first independent black state in the New World.

7. Crossroads of Freedom The Spanish American War began in 1898 as a direct result of an incident that occurred in Havana harbor. On February 15, 1898, an explosion occurred on the USS Maine that caused the deaths of over 250 American sailors. The Treaty of Paris officially ended the Spanish American War in 1898. The war had lasted six months. The treaty resulted in Puerto Rico and Guam falling under American control, Cuba gaining its independence, and America controlling the Philippines in exchange for 20 million dollars.

8. Crossroads of Freedom The Indian Mutiny of 1857, regarded by many as India's first War of Independence, was to have important consequences and the structure of British India was to be re-organized extensively. Increasingly, India came under direct Crown rule as the British East India Company was dispossessed of its functions and, in 1877, Queen Victoria was crowned Empress. The mutiny lasted thirteen months: from the rising of Meerut on 10 May 1857 to the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858.The sepoys were quickly joined by large numbers of civilians supporting the reinstatement of both a Moghul and a Maratha emperor and by landlords, particularly those of Oudh, penalised by the new administration and its policy of exporting raw materials for manufacture in Britain

9. Crossroads of Freedom In July 1853 Russia occupied territories in the Crimea that had previously been controlled by Turkey. Britain and France was concerned about Russian expansion and attempted to achieve a negotiation withdrawal. Turkey, unwilling to grant concessions declared war on Russia. Military officers and doctors objected to Nightingale's views on reforming military hospitals. They interpreted her comments as an attack on their professionalism and she was made to feel unwelcome. Nightingale received very little help from the military until she used her contacts at The Times to report details of the way that the British Army treated its wounded soldiers

10. Crossroads of Freedom Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century. Despite a lack of consensus on the exact dates for the beginning and end of this period. Many scholars agree that the process began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and the end of Napoleonic rule, and ended sometime around 1871 with the Franco-Prussian War. The last cittàirredente however, did not join the Kingdom of Italy until after World War I.