The Puritan Course Scheme
The Puritan course scheme showed how closely faith and politics were intertwined in Massachusetts. The Puritan justice system dealt with a variety of offenses, including crimes against the clergy, such as witchcraft. Anyone who was strange or out of the ordinary was hated and branded as a witch. The Puritans had split from the Anglican Church in order to establish their own society. As a result, the religious groups decided to declare the United States a Christian republic. Religion seemed to be inextricably linked to politics, making it an important aspect of American culture.
The Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was the first military conflict in American history. The war was propagated by the United States in an attempt to increase its territory. Initially, regions such as Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada were part of Mexico, however, when the war ended, these territories were acquired by the United States after their victory. President James Polk believed that the United States was destined for greatness including gaining more territory. The first proposed to buy several regions from Mexico, but when this proposal was denied, the United States resorted to war against the unprepared military of Mexico and won.
The Issue of Slavery
The southern states were allowed to join the union in the condition that they abolish slavery. There were over four million African slaves in the southern states, most of whom were born and died in slavery. However, the northern states were against slavery and went to war with the south to stop slavery in 1861. Slavery would not have stopped in the southern states as agriculture was the backbone of the economy, which subsequently relied on free labor provided by slaves. The northern states relied on industrialization while the south depended on plantations which were tended to by slaves.
