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Tuesday- Finish last 2 presentations, talked about election polls

Thomas Edison Inventions

Telegraph-

Copy Machine

Phonograph

Carbon Transmitter

Mexican War

Louisiana Purchase

Wednesday:

Mr. Bruns' Top 10

Thursday:

Continue Mr Bruns' Top 10

Declaration of Independence (going off of Revolutionary War)- Government is supposed to do things for the good of the people, to protect their rights. The government is given its power from the people, and if the government abuses this power, the people have the right to break away.
Constitution- US gov. started w/ Articles of Confederation 1863-1869, most power given to states, weak central government. States were not united, like 13 different countries. When Constitutional Convention first met, their goal was to merely fix up the articles, but they ended up getting totally scrapped, and the Constitution was born. Three branches of government- Executive (Pres, V. Pres, Cabinet) (commander in chief of military, enforces laws), Legislative (Congress) (declares war, creates laws), and Judicial (Supreme Court) (decides if laws are constitutional). Checks and Balances. Compromise between big states and small states- Senate- two representatives per state, House of Representatives- Number of representatives depends on population.
Westward Expansion- Reasons- new opportunities, ranching, gold etc. Louisiana Purchase- doubled the size of the US- 2 cents per acre. Lewis and Clark were sent to trek and explore the land- maps and documents. Got Florida and part of Louisiana, and southern Mississippi and Alabama from Spain in 1819. 1846- Oregon Territory- treaty w/ Britain. Purchased Alaska from Russia.

Friday: Continue Mr Bruns' Top 10

Texas War for Independence
Mexico opened borders to welcome immigrants from America coming down to Texas (which was still part of Mexico)
2 conditions- no slaves, had to convert to Roman Catholic
Brought slaves anyway, didn't want to be Roman Catholic
War broke out, Texas gained independence.
Texas was an independent country for about 8 years after. "The Lone Star Republic"
Then the US annexed Texas into the country, Texas was okay with that.

Mexican-American War
America gained a lot of land at Mexico's expense- Mexico wasn't happy about that
Couldn't agree on the southern border- the Rio Grande, or further north.
President Polk at the time was an imperialist, wanted that land. Sent troops down, Mexico thought we had declared war on them and
Took about 1/2 of Mexico in 3 years. Including Texas, Mexican Session (Arizona, California, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada)
New territories lead to Civil War- should slavery be in the new territories?

Civil War

South Seceded because they thought that Abraham Lincoln would abolish slavery because he said that he didn't want slavery spreading into the new territories.
Free states would have more power in Congress as new territories became states
North didn't necessarily fight to end slavery, they fought to keep the nation together.
The south fought over slavery.
The North didn't end slavery until towards the end of the war.
Reasons North more factories, in North, more states, more railroads, more people, more weapons more supplies in general, more farm acreage.
South was more familiar with weapons, better reason to fight (their society revolved around slavery), better Generals

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