The American Republic

8. Forging a Nation

part eight Forging a Nation The clear continuities in American politics and culture played an important role in the development of the Republic but do not overshadow the significant developments brought about by the Revolution and the construction of a new, independent government for the United States. Furthermore, America changed significantly with such events as Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, by which the United States gained vast new territories and trade routes, and the effects of immigration and economic development , along with internal improvements such as roads, harbors, and canals, which vastly increased American population and commerce. As America’s size and population increased—at times exponentially—new issues arose and old issues were transformed in character by new circumstances. New parties and coalitions arose, committed to greater and more widely spread political participation, to greater federal efforts on behalf of commercial growth, and to the spread of commercial habits and virtues. Issues of federal control and influence over commerce, taxation, and internal improvements often centered on particular events, such as the chartering of a national bank to hold deposits of the federal government. But they continued to raise nagging questions of the proper relationship between the state and the federal governments, as well as the proper size and scope of government in general, and the nature and purpose of America and her people. ...