Summary of Heather Cox Richardson's Wounded Knee

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Shermans were a new type of American, who had helped create a worldview based on aggressive economic development. They had fought for it against Southern slaveholders, and they had pushed it into western lands. But their worldview clashed with the traditional culture of the Plains Indians.

#2 The Sherman brothers were both ambitious and successful. They invested in manufacturing and railroads, and supported the Whig politicians who called for government protection of domestic industries. But they were heading not for uneventful success, but for a cataclysm.

#3 The Mexican-American War, which was fought from 1846 to 1848, unsettled the Shermans. They were eager to try out the power of their young nation and their own maturity, but the war threatened to hand national power to slave owners, which would upset the balance of power in the nation.

#4 The Compromise of 1850 was a solution to the crisis in California, which was quickly becoming a free state, and the other new territories, which were being dominated by Southerners. The compromise offered Southerners the two huge Territories of New Mexico and Utah, which eventually became the five states of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669399247

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Heather Cox Richardson's Wounded Knee

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Shermans were a new type of American, who had helped create a worldview based on aggressive economic development. They had fought for it against Southern slaveholders, and they had pushed it into western lands. But their worldview clashed with the traditional culture of the Plains Indians.

#2

The Sherman brothers were both ambitious and successful. They invested in manufacturing and railroads, and supported the Whig politicians who called for government protection of domestic industries. But they were heading not for uneventful success, but for a cataclysm.

#3

The Mexican-American War, which was fought from 1846 to 1848, unsettled the Shermans. They were eager to try out the power of their young nation and their own maturity, but the war threatened to hand national power to slave owners, which would upset the balance of power in the nation.

#4

The Compromise of 1850 was a solution to the crisis in California, which was quickly becoming a free state, and the other new territories, which were being dominated by Southerners. The compromise offered Southerners the two huge Territories of New Mexico and Utah, which eventually became the five states of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

#5

The Compromise of 1850 did not end the sectional conflict, as it was soon discovered that the proposed Kansas Territory lay north of the Missouri Compromise line, which had divided slavery from freedom since 1820. Northerners wanted to move into the land that was theirs under the Missouri Compromise, but Southerners suddenly changed the rules.

#6

Free labor was the fundamental element of American society, and the promise of free labor was what attracted many Northerners to the movement. The idea was that any man who worked hard could produce more than was necessary to support himself and his family, and he could sell the surplus he created.

#7

The outbreak of war in 1861 brought Cump to Washington. He had never shared John’s enthusiasm for politics, and he had spent the tense antebellum years concentrating on building a successful career. When the South seceded, he resigned from his position and returned to Ohio.

#8

When the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, Congress realized that it had to find money for the monumentally expensive task of equipping, feeding, caring for, and moving an army that would eventually include more than a million men.

#9

The Republican Congress raised taxes, developed the economy, and encouraged trade and industry. They replaced the nation’s system of tariffs, which were taxes on imported goods, with a more stable currency backed by gold.

#10

The Republican tariffs that were set during the war to raise money helped support the national economy,