American History - From The European Settlement To The Civil War

It is officially noted in historic accounts that the Americas were discovered, rather by chance, in 1492. It seems Genoese Christopher Columbus was seeking a new trade route to the East, when he happens upon the American shores. This chance encounter opened a flood-gate of colonisation, wealth and discovery.

Although history has attributed the discovery to Columbus, modern historians, over the course of time and further aided by modern technology, continue the debate who in fact was first to discover this land of plenty. Indigenous natives travelled from Europe, transversing the Bering Seas, thousands of years prior to Columbus and it is also noted that the Vikings arrived on American soil hundreds of years before Columbus. But Americas true history began with Columbus and mushroomed in its development from its colonisation, particularly from the English after 1600.

The expansion was dramatic and bloody. Smaller colonies were set up initially by the Spanish and the French. The battle to control lead to bloody battles, as each tried to maintain a stronger political hold on this new frontier; the unfortunate indigenous owners were left to wage war on all, in a vain attempt to retain their ancestral ground.

The Imperial English rule over the colonies finally ended in 1776 and the thirteen states finally gained their independence from the English. America was now a nation under its own Colonial Governmental rule, but far from satisfied in its definition as a people. Colonies still existed under French and English control. The French, under Napoleon were bought out, with a deal with Thomas Jefferson; this doubled the landholding of the United States.

It was not until 1812 that last and final war with England, finalised the United States as a sovereign nation. Like any nation growing, expanding, learning and developing; agreement was still an unsettled argument in respect to its code under the covariance of the Bill of Rights.

The North or Union strongly disagreed with slavery, while the South or Confederates maintained a right to own and work slaves to maintain a life-style they had come to believe in.

This political and humanitarian debate would escalate into a bloody battle, which began in the attack on Fort Sumter in 1861. While this War was particularly enacted in the Southern seven States, from 1861- 1865, it would cost the lives of millions of people.

The South finally conceded and the Union was restored, the south was impoverished and slavery abolished to an expanding, growing nation, populated by 32 million people. America was now a nation united; its continued growth and self determination assured under the stars and stripes of its flag.