Challenges Of The New America

When America first gained independence from Britain, they faced many challenges. There were political challenges, such as states wanting their own independence, slave issues, and expansion issues. There were also many ethnic and economical challenges like, slavery, what to do with indigenous people of America, women's rights and the flood of immigration from China and Japan.

When America first got its independence, some states did no want the government to tell them what to do. The people of some of the states wanted to be completely independent of the national government. One reason was the issue of slavery. People, especially in the north, wanted to end slavery. They realized it was wrong. Many southerners felt that slaves were private property and they did not want to give up their free laborers. Additionally, because America was expanding very rapidly, people were concerned about the newly acquired land and if that land would be a free state or a slave state. The government tried to make different laws and compromises that kept the balance of free and slave states. However, when Abraham Lincoln became president, he wanted America to be a federation and to eventually end slavery. This conflict took many years, plus a very bloody civil war, to end. Although the effects are still seen today, (racism and other social issues) they were able to end slavery and to make the United States one nation.

Another challenge that the new nation faced was that of the indigenous people of America, namely the 'Indians'. These people were here before the settlers. The 'New Americans' (mostly white Europeans) felt that God gave them this land and that God wanted them to expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean. As the New Americans moved west, there were many battles with the Native Americans. The government tried to solve this problem two ways. One was to round up all the different tribes and make them live on "Indian Territory". It did not matter that the Native people had to leave the land of their ancestors. Nor did it matter if the new location was good for hunting and farming. Another way they tried to deal with the Native Americans was to assimilate