OCR GCSE History B (J411) — The People’s Health (c.1250–Present)
A map of the United States in 1789 looks completely different from one in 1900. In just over a century, a fragile collection of 13 coastal states transformed into an industrial superpower spanning an entire continent. This territorial growth was driven by the ideology of Manifest Destiny, alongside powerful economic Push-Pull Factors like the 1848 California Gold Rush. The pace of change was rapid and accelerating, shifting from early "Growing Pains" (1789–1838) to the settlement of the "Far West" (1839–1860) and finally the "Closing of the Frontier" (1877–1900).
The early American economy was based on the ideal of the self-sufficient Yeoman Farmer, but it rapidly industrialised. In the South, the invention of the Cotton Gin in 1793 revolutionised agriculture, leading to the brutal Pushing System on plantations. By 1820, cotton made up 42% of US exports.
Later in the century, the economy shifted towards massive extraction and infrastructure. The Pacific Railroad Act (1862) enabled the Transcontinental Railroad, shrinking a six-month journey to just six days. By 1900, the economy was dominated by the Corporation, with huge industrial Bonanza Farms replacing small family plots and large companies controlling hydraulic gold mining.
Political change in this period was defined by intense conflict over whether new western states would permit slavery. Attempts to maintain political balance, such as the Missouri Compromise (1820), ultimately failed when the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) introduced Popular Sovereignty. This led to extreme violence and the birth of the Republican Party.
Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) saw rapid political progression, with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments granting freedom, citizenship, and voting rights to African Americans. However, this progress was reversed after 1877 when white regained control of the South. They introduced to enforce racial segregation and systematically strip Black Americans of their newly won rights.
The social landscape of America changed dramatically, but the pace and nature of this change varied wildly depending on your race and gender. For the white urban middle class, the Leisure Revolution brought department stores and spectator sports. Women also saw gradual legal improvements, starting with the Married Women's Property Acts which slowly chipped away at the restrictive laws of Coverture.
Conversely, social change for minority groups was often catastrophic. Native Americans faced forced expulsion and Assimilation, such as the breaking up of tribal lands under the Dawes Act (1887). African Americans experienced a volatile "rollercoaster" of change; brief social elevation during Reconstruction was quickly followed by severe disenfranchisement, prompting movements like the Exodusters to flee the South for Kansas.
The 19th century witnessed a profound Clash of Visions between completely different ways of life. The communal, Nomadic culture of the Plains Indians, centered around the buffalo and the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka), was entirely incompatible with the white settler desire for individual land ownership. The extermination of 13 million buffalo by 1885 effectively destroyed the foundation of Plains Indian culture.
Meanwhile, white American culture was heavily influenced by massive religious revivals like the Second Great Awakening, which promoted Perfectionism and sparked reform movements like abolitionism and temperance. In the home, the Cult of Domesticity enforced strict middle-class norms, placing women in a "separate sphere" of moral and household duties.
Students often describe the 19th century as a period of continuous progress. While economic and territorial growth was rapid and continuous, social and political rights (especially for African Americans) were volatile and discontinuous.
In outline or summary questions, use the 'Three Groups Rule': explicitly distinguish between the different experiences of White Americans, African Americans, and Indigenous Peoples to access higher marks.
When discussing causation, always try to link economic drivers to cultural consequences (e.g., how the economic need for railroads led to the cultural destruction of the Plains Indians via the extermination of the buffalo).
Manifest Destiny
The 19th-century cultural and political belief that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire North American continent.
Push-Pull Factors
Economic or social reasons that force people to leave a region (push) or attract them to a new one (pull).
Yeoman Farmer
Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of a self-sufficient, land-owning citizen farmer.
Cotton Gin
A machine invented in 1793 that separated cotton fibers from their seeds 50 times faster than by hand.
Pushing System
An economic labor innovation where enslaved people were forced to meet strict daily picking quotas through brutal speed-up tactics.
Pacific Railroad Act
An 1862 law that provided federal bonds and land grants to companies to build a transcontinental railway.
Corporation
A large business owned by shareholders that became the dominant economic structure in the late 19th century.
Bonanza Farms
Industrial-scale farms of 10,000 or more acres that used machinery and migrant labor.
Missouri Compromise
An 1820 agreement that established the 36°30' latitude line, prohibiting slavery north of it (except in Missouri).
Kansas-Nebraska Act
An 1854 law that allowed settlers in new territories to decide the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty.
Popular Sovereignty
The principle that settlers in a territory should vote to decide on the legality of slavery.
Redeemers
White Southern Democrats who sought to overturn Reconstruction reforms and re-establish white supremacy.
Jim Crow Laws
State and local laws introduced after 1877 enforcing racial segregation and disenfranchisement in the South.
Leisure Revolution
The late 19th-century rise of commercial entertainment, spectator sports, and consumerism for the urban middle class.
Married Women's Property Acts
State laws, beginning in 1839, that allowed women to keep property they brought into a marriage and protected it from their husbands' debts.
Coverture
The legal status of a married woman whose independent legal identity was subsumed by her husband, meaning she could not own property or sign contracts.
Assimilation
Forcing a minority group to adopt the customs and lifestyle of the dominant culture.
Dawes Act
An 1887 law that broke up Native American tribal lands into individual plots to force assimilation into white farming culture.
Exodusters
African Americans who migrated from the post-Reconstruction South to Kansas seeking land and safety.
Clash of Visions
The conflict between Native American communal views of land and white settlers' views of land as a commodity for individual ownership.
Nomadic
A way of life moving from place to place; for Plains Indians, this meant following seasonal buffalo migrations.
Wakan Tanka
The Great Spirit in Plains Indian spiritual beliefs.
Second Great Awakening
A massive 19th-century Protestant religious revival characterized by emotional meetings and reform movements.
Perfectionism
The religious belief that individuals have a moral duty to improve themselves and society to achieve salvation.
Cult of Domesticity
A 19th-century value system emphasizing piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity for middle-class women.
Put your knowledge into practice — try past paper questions for History B
Manifest Destiny
The 19th-century cultural and political belief that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire North American continent.
Push-Pull Factors
Economic or social reasons that force people to leave a region (push) or attract them to a new one (pull).
Yeoman Farmer
Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of a self-sufficient, land-owning citizen farmer.
Cotton Gin
A machine invented in 1793 that separated cotton fibers from their seeds 50 times faster than by hand.
Pushing System
An economic labor innovation where enslaved people were forced to meet strict daily picking quotas through brutal speed-up tactics.
Pacific Railroad Act
An 1862 law that provided federal bonds and land grants to companies to build a transcontinental railway.
Corporation
A large business owned by shareholders that became the dominant economic structure in the late 19th century.
Bonanza Farms
Industrial-scale farms of 10,000 or more acres that used machinery and migrant labor.
Missouri Compromise
An 1820 agreement that established the 36°30' latitude line, prohibiting slavery north of it (except in Missouri).
Kansas-Nebraska Act
An 1854 law that allowed settlers in new territories to decide the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty.
Popular Sovereignty
The principle that settlers in a territory should vote to decide on the legality of slavery.
Redeemers
White Southern Democrats who sought to overturn Reconstruction reforms and re-establish white supremacy.
Jim Crow Laws
State and local laws introduced after 1877 enforcing racial segregation and disenfranchisement in the South.
Leisure Revolution
The late 19th-century rise of commercial entertainment, spectator sports, and consumerism for the urban middle class.
Married Women's Property Acts
State laws, beginning in 1839, that allowed women to keep property they brought into a marriage and protected it from their husbands' debts.
Coverture
The legal status of a married woman whose independent legal identity was subsumed by her husband, meaning she could not own property or sign contracts.
Assimilation
Forcing a minority group to adopt the customs and lifestyle of the dominant culture.
Dawes Act
An 1887 law that broke up Native American tribal lands into individual plots to force assimilation into white farming culture.
Exodusters
African Americans who migrated from the post-Reconstruction South to Kansas seeking land and safety.
Clash of Visions
The conflict between Native American communal views of land and white settlers' views of land as a commodity for individual ownership.
Nomadic
A way of life moving from place to place; for Plains Indians, this meant following seasonal buffalo migrations.
Wakan Tanka
The Great Spirit in Plains Indian spiritual beliefs.
Second Great Awakening
A massive 19th-century Protestant religious revival characterized by emotional meetings and reform movements.
Perfectionism
The religious belief that individuals have a moral duty to improve themselves and society to achieve salvation.
Cult of Domesticity
A 19th-century value system emphasizing piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity for middle-class women.
