Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, Zachary Taylor, George Washington.  One thing these four presidents share is war.  Each one either faced a war in office or got into office because of victorious leadership in combat.

When it comes to British colonization and colonies in North America, lectures noted

What terrible event in the 1600s revealed the ferocity that existed just below the surface in Northern culture?

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery in the United States.  Before that, the Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in states at war in 1863.

What are we looking at here?   

Lectures noted that the Constitution of the Southern Confederacy was careful never to mention slavery.   This was so the southern nation could attract trade partners with nations that banned slavery.

After the tariff crisis of the 1830s, southerners realized the north and west together could pass any manner of laws they chose.  That must have been a bit intimidating, but how did southerners respond? 

In the Civil War in the East, Robert E. Lee successfully defended Richmond for years against northern attacks, despite being outnumbered and outgunned.

Lectures argued that the following events were not of great significance and have been overrated in United States history – the War of 1812, the Revolution of 1800, the Caning of Charles Sumner.

So if the 1830s was the “Decade of Discovery,” what was the decade of expansion – the decade when the United States acquired and began to settle vast amounts of new territory?