This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the original division of public opinion over the Mexican-American War. Many accused President Polk of provoking a war.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes President Polk's determination to acquire California and the southwest. Polk provoked a war with Mexico to achieve his goal.
This feature is no longer available.
Professor Maria Montoya of New York University explains the origins of "Manifest Destiny," which caught Americans' imaginations and propelled them westward.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes a tariff Congress passed in 1828 to protect American manufacturers from cheaper foreign imports. This protective tariff almost brought the country to the brink of civil war.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes Andrew Jackson's open hatred for the Bank of the United States.
This feature is no longer available.
Professor Matthew Warshauer guides viewers through a political cartoon from 1836 that satirizes Andrew Jackson's campaign to destroy the Bank of the United States.
This feature is no longer available.
Professor Matthew Warshauer guides viewers through a pro-Andrew Jackson cartoon applauding the president's September 1833 order for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the brief period following the 1816 election of James Monroe in which only one political party dominated American politics. But growing partisanship and financial panic soon brought the Era of Good Feelings to an end.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces the nativism of the 1840s and 1850s—the fear that the flood of Irish and German immigration would result in immigrants out-breeding, out-voting, and out-working native-born Americans.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how, as a young nation, the U.S. desperately needed a national system of trade and transportation. But the "American System," proposed by Speaker of the House Henry Clay, became a source of heated debate in the Senate.
This feature is no longer available.