Expansion and Conflict

"Expansion and Conflict" by William Edward Dodd is a historical book about how the United States changed in the years leading up to the Civil War. It discusses the fights between different parts of the country, the competitions between people in politics, and how Americans started to see themselves. The book looks at important people and ideas, spending time on Andrew Jackson and how the West, East, and South disagreed. According to the book, the US didn't really become one united country until after the Civil War. It talks about times of political trouble and big changes in the economy that happened before the war. Dodd tells how Jackson became a popular leader who stood up for the West against the rich and powerful in the East, explaining Jackson's life, his time in the military, and how the Democratic Party started. This all led to the big disagreements about things like taxes and who had power, between those who supported Jackson and those who wanted things to stay the same.