During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, most of the Americas gained independence from European colonial powers. Building new societies based on ideals like freedom and equality proved enormously challenging given the regions' diversity. The independence era was characterized by rapid economic growth, mass migration, and social/political conflicts including the U.S. Civil War and battles over racial and gender equality.

1. How the Americas Change: The Long 19th CenturyHIST 141SUMMER 2011By: Le Thi My Ho

2. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, almost all the lands of the western hemisphere won their independence from European colonial powersThe effort to build societies based on freedom, equality, and constitutional government was a monumental challenge only partially realized in lands characterized by enormous social, economic, and cultural diversityThe age of independence for the United States, Canada, and Latin America was a contentious era characterized by continuous mass migration and explosive economic growth, occasionally followed by deep economic stagnation, and punctuated with civil war, ethnic violence, class conflict, and battles for racial and sexual equalityThe Americas in the 19th Century

3. The Americas in the 19th CenturyThe U.S. slave population rose sharply from five hundred thousand in 1770 to almost two million in 1820The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 was the spark that ignited war between the states (1861-1865)Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863 promised theabolition of slavery whichforeshadowed radical changes to come in southern life.

4. Canada won its Independencewithout war because the British fearedof U.S. expansion Independent Mexico experienced a succession of governments, from monarchy to republic to caudillo rule, but it also generated a liberal reform movementThe Constitution of 1857 set forth the ideals of La Reforma. -"land and liberty"-which would endow Mexicans with the means to make a living and enable them to participate in political affairs

5. Began 7 Centuries ago, approximately from the 14th – 19th Century that targets mankindExtremely cold period between 1550 AD and 1850 AD; identified with three particularly cold intervals: one beginning about 1650, another about 1770, and the last in 1850, each separated by intervals of slight warming climatePeriod of unusual cooling that occurred after a warmer North Atlantic Era of the Northern Hemisphere known as the Medieval Warm PeriodWinter were longer and colder; Summer were shorter and cooler in many parts of the worldIncreased glaciations and storms in a number of widely spread regions outside Europe prior to the 20th century, including Alaska, New Zealand, and PatagoniaOver 25 million (1/3 population) people died during this Era due to famine (starvation), weather, and diseasesThe Little Ice Age

6. The Louisiana Purchase On Saturday April 30, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed by Robert Livingston, James Monroe on behalf of President Thomas Jefferson, and BarbéMarbois in ParisThe U.S. paid 60 million francs ($11,250,000) plus cancellation of debts worth 18 million francs ($3,750,000), for a total sum of 15 million dollars for the Louisiana territory ($219 million in 2010 dollars). Acquiring the 828,800 square miles territory would double the size of the United States at a sum of less than 3 cents per acreEncompassed all or part of 15 current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Minnesotathat were west of the Mississippi River, most of North Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, northern Texas, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, and Louisianawest of the Mississippi River, including the city of New OrleansFrontiers of the Americas

7. Haitian Revolution(1791–1804) was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic; a defining moment in the history of Africans in the New WorldFrom 1832-1834, Prince Maximilian zuWied, a German aristocrat, and Swiss artist Karl Bodmertook a historic journey to the American West up to the Missouri RiverBodmer and Maximilian left an important legacy that is cherished by today’s Native Americans, preserving an era of American cultural history that would soon vanish with the onslaught of technological civilizationThe Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) was the first United States expedition to the Pacific Coast. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson.To study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and to discover how the region could be exploited economicallyTo find a "direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce with Asia" (the Northwest Passage)Frontiers of the Americas

8. - Series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions-Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France-The wars resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and sowed the seeds of nascent nationalism in Germany and Italy that would lead to the two nations' consolidation later in the century-The British Empire became the foremost world power for the next century, thus beginning Pax Britannica-The Napoleonic Wars ended following Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815 and the Second Treaty of ParisCrossroads of Freedom - The Napoleonic Wars 1803 – 1815

9. - An armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas RevolutionForced Mexican Cession of the territories of Alta California and New Mexico to the U.S. in exchange for $18 million

10. United States forgave debt owed by the Mexican government to U.S. citizens if Mexico accepted the Rio Grande as its national border, and the loss of TexasCrossroads of Freedom - The US-Mexican War 1846 - 1848

11. + Conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia+ Part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire+ Known for the logistical and tactical errors during the land campaign on both sides+ One of the first "modern" wars as it "introduced technical changes which affected the future course of warfare," including the first tactical use of railways and the telegraph+ One of the first wars to be documented extensively in written reports and photographsCrossroads of Freedom - The Crimean War October 1853 – February 1856

12. To preserve the United States as a whole nation, President Abraham Lincoln had to invade, defeat, and conquer the Confederacy. The Confederate needed to defend what it already possessed by repelling enemy invasions and wearing out the will of the Union to carry out warAfter the defeat at Bull Run, Lincoln appointed General George B. McClellan to take command of the Union Army of the Potomac as general in chiefMcClellan’s leadership disappointed Lincoln; after many discouraging outcomes, Lincoln relieved McClellan of his dutyThe Battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, one of the bloodiest battle in American history that killed more than 6,000 soldiers in one dayJames Mason of Virginia, who is a Confederate envoy to Britain is stopped by Charles Frances Adams to be recognized by the British as affiliated with the ConfederacyCrossroads of Freedom – The Pendulum of War 1861-1862