Documents from Reading the American Past

Chapter 11

Introduction to the Documents

During the 1820s and 1830s, as Americans continued to migrate westward, they disagreed over how social and economic institutions should be influenced by the ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy. Were corporations and banks to be feared as undemocratic concentrations of power, or were they institutions that fostered economic improvement for all? Were families nurseries of good citizens or prisons to which women were sentenced for life? Should Indian lands be reserved for the use of native tribes or opened to white settlers? Should slavery be abolished or preserved and expanded? The following documents illustrate some of the ways Americans grappled with such questions.