American History Final
By Tanner Burchett
How did America become a world power?
There are many events that lead to America becoming a world power. In this flyer, I will describe many of these events to you. These events lead to America being a leading power in the world.
The Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War began in the year of 1776. This war broke out because the colonies of Britain were unhappy with the way Britain was treating them. This is how America proved how powerful we were. We were the underdogs. No one would have ever believed that citizens could have beaten the world powerhouse of Britain in a war. Yet we did so, with our courage and our bravery. These are the first signs of America being strong and coming together to fight for freedom. This also shows that even little American colonies can defeat the big and powerful Great Britain. This is just the beginning of America showing our strength.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution is another event that has lead America to becoming a powerhouse. The Industrial Revolution gave us many new machines and assembly techniques. This is the time period where steam power was created and when textile mills boomed. This revolution also caused urbanization to spur, giving us more cities. Telegraphs were also built in this time so communicating long distances would be easier. This is also the time when railroads were being created and many resources were transported easily across the country. This revolution allowed us to not need help from other countries. We could rely on ourselves to make our own machines and buildings and we could expand on our own. This growing of our nation lead us to becoming a great power of this world.
Civil War
The Civil war was yet another event that lead to America becoming a leading power. This war taught us many things. It taught us that to be strong, we need to stand together. We also learned that slavery was a bad thing. During the civil war time, Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the Union. This caused 11 states to secede and join the Confederate States of America. Tension then began to rise, then war broke out. This was the bloodiest war we had ever fought, and it was against ourselves. In all, about 620,000 soldiers gave their lives in this war. This war taught America that we are stronger as one and we are a better nation if we are a free nation. This war also gave us new fighting techniques such as total war.
Reconstruction
Reconstruction is the period of time after the Civil War. Our country needed to reunite after this war. We knew we would be stronger if we reunited. This process lasted a total of 14 years. We had to install many plans and bills to make it easy for southern states to rejoin the Union. During this time period, Lincoln was killed. Many people were unhappy with Lincoln. When the country new of Lincoln's death, the country stopped. Yet, we moved on. We knew that Lincoln would have wanted us to move on with Reconstruction and become the strong country we are today. Towards the end of Reconstruction, we had an industrial growth. This lead to the south to become industrialized which expanded our resources. These resources help us today to become a strong nation. Some of these resources are steel and iron. These resources are used everyday in our country, and wouldn't have been easy to obtain if Reconstruction hadn't happened.
Expanded over Seas
To become a true power, we had to establish many trading options. One option we were interested in was Japan. Japan had been isolated from trade for 250, but we convinced them to open trade. This greatly helped us. We later purchased Alaska. This not only opened easier trade for Asia. It also gave us a lot of oil and gold. This is when we began to expand. We were involved in the Spanish American War. This eventually lead us to gain the Philippines and other Caribbean countries. We also gained countries in Latin America. This is how we gained the Panama canal. As we started to become stronger, we got involved in more wars. This eventually lead to us joining in World War I. This is how we truly evolved into a great world power. We've have shown our strengths and have taken this world by storm. We have truly become, a powerhouse.