2015-10-22
966
After the war the USA began to develop rapidly. The government supported emigration and liked the idea of bringing good farmers over (bring over=persuade) from Britain to teach Americans better agricultural methods. Industry was making progress too. The textile industry began to develop. Clocks, metallic goods, paper, glass and iron were produced in the USA. The shipping industry developed and soon the USA was taking the second place on the Ocean after Britain. But the main energy of the Americans was directed to the West. A national network of roads and canals was built. Steamboats moved along the rivers. The first railroad opened in 1830. In 1828 Andrew Jackson formed the Democratic Party which was a broad coalition of farmers, workers and immigrants. American life was characterized by a growing conflict between the Northern and the Southern States. Most Northern States abolished slavery. But the Southern States used black slaves on the large plantation to grow cotton, rice, tobacco and sugar.
The anti-slavery movement became a mass movement in the country. In 1854 the republican party was formed. It united the industrialist from the North, the free farmers and the many inhabitants of the towns who were against slavery. Abraham Lincoln became a leading figure in the party. In 1858 Lincoln was elected a Member of Congress. In 1860 the republican party won the Presidential election and Lincoln became President of the USA. The South decided to leave the American union. 11 States proclaimed themselves an independent nation - the Confederate States of America. The American civil war began (1861-1865).
Lincoln’s main tasks were to keep the country together and to abolish slavery. On January the 1st 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which granted freedom to all slaves. The Southern army won some battles at the beginning of the war. Soon the whole situation changed. In the summer of 1863 General Lee marched North into Pennsylvania. He met the union army at Gettysburg and the greatest battle on American territory took place. After three days of fighting the Southern army was defeated. Soon the Northern army took control of the Mississippi valley and cut the Confederacy/Confederates in two.
In 1864 a union army under General Sherman and General Grant won many important victories. In April of 1865 General Lee surrendered. The civil war was over.
